Ever heard of the cookie jar syndrome? It’s when there is a set of beliefs very carefully in place but there isn’t the behaviour to give it authenticity. Belief and behaviour always go hand-in-hand. And they go in that order.
In this lesson, let's turn our attention to that horizontal dimension and learn to help others find the same freedom God grants us, as we accept them as they are and release them to learn and grow.
Everyone make mistakes. But there’s a difference between making a mistake and living an irresponsible life. We’re accountable for the lives we live and one day each one of us will give an account of our life to God.
Through this story of the rescue of two trapped whales, Chuck points out how eager we are to help in these situations, but how slow we are to set one another free from our own lists, inhibitions, restrictions, and expectations.
Allowing grace to flow freely means we let others be. You look different? We let you look different. You don’t dress like others? That’s fine, dress like you want to. That’s what grace is all about. Here are some traps we can fall into if we’re not careful.
Comparison can be lethal. What others drive, or wear, or how others look is no one’s business but theirs. Living in harmony means letting others be—and cutting each other some slack.
It’s so easy to focus on the non-essentials. We can become so preoccupied with the details we completely miss the big picture. Relationships become fractured when we only focus on the small stuff.
Because of the weak believer’s human tendency to judge those who don’t embrace his or her customs and convictions and also because of the strong believer’s decision to discount judgments passed by those who find fault in his or her expressions of freedom, conflict emerges and persists. The solution? Put grace into action.
God’s desire is that we, His people, fully enjoy our freedom in Christ. However, there must be self-imposed boundaries or we will become self-serving, independent-minded, and careless rebels with no regard for others. The last 11 verses of Romans 14 address this issue.
Though a twin, he was quite the opposite of his younger brother and ultimately became the heartache of the family. Ripped off by his brother and rejected by his family, he couldn’t win, no matter how hard he tried. As we shall soon discover, the Bible pulls no punches. And you may find several places in this story where you can identify with Esau, “the son who couldn’t win.”
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