It's one of my daughter's favorite phrases right now: "I finished another DIY project, Mom!" She's not the only one. Just pull up a site like Pinterest, and you will find DIY everything...from home decor to jewelry to laundry detergent to gardening projects to home remedies. It's the new wave of the American independent spirit...the grown up version of a toddler's "I did it myself, Mommy!"
DIY projects are great. I've been working on some myself lately, and I have a list about a mile long of more I'd like to complete. But DIY isn't always all it's cracked up to be.
"...I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we each face these apple-moments in our lives, in our everyday. We know truth and we live in it, but the lies just get so loud. We get weary, we get confused, we get angry, we get jaded. And we bite. Immediately the shame settles in. Like Eve, we hurriedly begin sewing together fig leaves in an attempt to hide our brokenness and our guilt.
"Let’s stop. Let’s put down our DIY efforts of self-salvation that Paul warned us about, and let’s run fast to the foot of the cross.
"We will find Jesus there, ready for us. Ready to forgive."
~Amanda Williams, She Reads Truth
I read these words in my "She Reads Truth" study yesterday and thought about how that seems to be one of the themes God is weaving through my life right now..."No more DIY Christianity". It's hitting me from every side...sermons at church, blog posts online, snippets of talk on the radio, and conversations with friends.
I shared here about my tendencies toward legalism and how God has been gently but firmly pulling those tendencies out by the roots in the last few years. I still struggle at times, and I'm especially still working to get rid of the works-based philosophies that have permeated my parenting for so long.
As I said in that post, I know better than to think we can work our way to salvation. There is definitely a movement of "DIY salvation" going on in our culture today, and it's quite dangerous. I recognize that, and it grieves me.
Post-salvation DIY efforts, however, those are a totally different thing. I know better there, too, but there's still a tug-of-war.
Jonathan Slade is a relatively new blogger I've been reading. I've had the privilege of being involved in a blogging group run by his wife, Christin, of Joyful Mothering, and through that, I've connected with Jonathan's blog. It's great reading, even if it does have a tendency to step on my toes.
His latest post, Seeking the Fruit or the Giver Of?, was another thread in the weaving of this theme. He talks about the fact that if we as sinful people can be taught the fruit of the Spirit, or other morality, then why would we need Christ? We can't learn to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, and if it appears that we are, then we are just making a "weak copy of the original". Instead of seeking the fruit, he says, we need to seek the Giver of the fruit, the One who created it. Go read the article...it's good!
I can't produce fruit on my own. I can't minister to others on my own. I can't do anything good on my own. It all has to be Him working through me.
I've posted about "filthy rags" before...see my {hypothetical} stinky towel story here. Still love the song I quoted in that post...such truth there! I need to sing it every day. I need to seek the Giver of the fruit; the Source of the growth. I need to remember Isaiah 64:6 and Philippians 2:13 every day. And I need to limit my DIY to crafts and homemaking. Because DIY life will get us in trouble every time.
No more DIY Christianity. No more DIY life.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.~Isaiah 64:6
"...for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."~Philippians 2:13
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Linking up with Word Filled Wednesday and Thriving Thursday today!
If
we as sinful people can simply be taught the fruit, or other morality,
than would we really need Jesus? If we could be taught these concepts,
than just teaching on it would be enough. We could learn and become
better people. - See more at:
http://jonathanslade.net/seeking-the-fruit-or-the-giver-of/#sthash.4M7NTHro.dpu
If
we as sinful people can simply be taught the fruit, or other morality,
than would we really need Jesus? If we could be taught these concepts,
than just teaching on it would be enough. We could learn and become
better people. - See more at:
http://jonathanslade.net/seeking-the-fruit-or-the-giver-of/#sthash.4M7NTHro.dpuf
If
we as sinful people can simply be taught the fruit, or other morality,
than would we really need Jesus? If we could be taught these concepts,
than just teaching on it would be enough. We could learn and become
better people. - See more at:
http://jonathanslade.net/seeking-the-fruit-or-the-giver-of/#sthash.4M7NTHro.dpuf
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