In Colossians 3:17, Paul wrote words that blow our Deep South, religious minds. He said, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus…”
When was the last time you heard someone in church tell you to do it all? And yet, Paul is telling the believers in the Colossian church to throw away the checklist of religious actions and simply live. Do whatever, he writes, and do it all!
I can hear the religion rising up in me like the kid in the classroom who knows the answer and raises his hand while he makes grunting noises until the teacher finally acknowledges him.
“But he said to do it in the name of Jesus, so that means we can’t really do whatever or do it all, right?”
Wrong. It means that we actually can, but that we probably won’t, at least not everything and not forever.
When our walk with Jesus is marked by rules, we freeze until someone tells us what we can and can’t do. And then, when we finally know all the do’s and don’t’s, it only helps us to feel really good on the days when we do more do’s and really bad on the days when we do more don’t’s.
But a walk with Jesus that is marked by relationship — notice the words “with Jesus” — frees us to live and do and laugh and mess up and ask forgiveness and be forgiven and do it all over again as needed.
Rules can be broken and when they are, they have to be enforced.
But relationships can be broken, too, and when they are, they need to be reinforced.
[Tweet “When rules are broken, they have to be enforced. When relationships are broken, they need to be reinforced.”]That’s what the Spirit does in our relationship with God. As we go along doing whatever and doing it all, He checks us when what we’re doing hurts the relationship we have with Jesus. Sometimes it’s a gentle nudge, and at other times it’s like hitting the metal edge in the game of Operation. But it’s always with the goal of highlighting the relationship and not the rule.
[Tweet “When I live in the freedom of Christ to do whatever and do it all, I usually end up doing a lot less and being fulfilled a lot more.”]What I am finding true in my life is simply this: when I live in the freedom of Christ to do whatever and do it all, I usually end up doing a lot less and being fulfilled a lot more.
His love has a way of doing that.
