For Freedom...

I got a new colleague to work directly with me at the office. It's only been 10 days so far but I took an instant liking to this girl. She is just out of school and only about 18 years old. She probably noticed that I listen to Christian music at the office, in addition to some of the things I've said and so she started to open up with regard to her own "religion" as she puts it. By the way, I really hate to refer to my faith in Jesus as a "religion" because I know religion is way different but for simplicity sake, this is the word she uses so I'll use it here.

In the variety of situations that came up and things that were spoken between us during the course of the past few days, I have already learned a list of things that she could NOT do, because of her religion. These included:
drink coffee
have ham
wear jewelry
wear makeup
wear pants at church
chew gum

Somewhere midweek she told me that she was a Seventh Day Adventist. In addition, she is very involved in her church and perhaps because she has learnt that I am a lay minister at my church, she has started to come to work and share her church updates with me.

One story she shared with me highlighted the shortcomings of her belief: She was telling me that she was the chosen 'superintendent' of a special Sabbath meeting this past weekend and because she was going to be up front, wanted to look extra special. She remarked that since she couldnt wear jewelry or makeup she was going to buy a new outfit and get her hair done in drop curls and wear it down. The irony, I thought to myself, is that her religion teaches that self-adornment is wrong, yet here she was working around the 'rules' to make herself look special for the public eye.

I went home last Thursday and almost in passing, prayed for both her and my (our) supervisor. That night God gave me a distinct dream. Without describing the dream for brevity sake, the message was pretty clear: Right now God wants me to pray for her because she has a desire to go deeper.

As I shared this with my friend, J, he simply remarked that God had given me the opportunity to demonstrate true holiness to her.

Interestingly, the next day at church, my pastor's wife taught briefly before the main service about Holiness and this issue of religious works and rules and regulations came up.

Oh one thing I forgot to mention. Before even meeting her, over the previous day or two I'd been reading Colossians and pondering over Chapter 2 which also dealt with the uselessness of religion and tradition as a means of drawing near to God. After meeting this girl a day after or so, I couldn't help but think that God was equipping me with His mind for this 'mission'.

It occured to me what freedom there is in Christ and how privileged we are to draw close to Him to take on His holy nature. And as someone who experienced the bondage of religion and was taught a list of DON'Ts as the way to relate to God, I know that it prevents us from knowing & loving God as He really is.

I could never go back to legalism which was the biggest weight to carry even before I really knew of the provision of wonderful grace of God. The liberty that I've found, where His Spirit is, is so wonderful that I want others to know of it too. Now, I can be holy, His way, by being transformed by time in His presence, with His word and His Spirit.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)