I am the type of person who loves corny jokes. I suppose I come by this honestly because many people in my family also enjoy this type of humor. Recently during you group I asked this question, “Why is it that our feet smell and our nose runs?” This type of play on words can usually get me giggling. However, I think the essence of the question is also applicable. Just as there are reasons and purposes behind God’s set-up of the universe, there are reasons why as a follower of God, I live in a certain way. Why do I allow myself to act or live a certain way? There are certain types of activities that I have decided are beneficial and not so beneficial. Certain types of clothing styles that are appropriate or not so appropriate. I try to live differently. And because I am trying to live differently people often ask why I live the way that we live.

There is a song that I remember from my days in the cradle roll, which has a line that goes, “…for the Bible tells me so.” When I was younger this was a great response to people because it taught me the importance of God’s Word in my life. But as I get older, if my standard response to people’s questioning stops at “…for the Bible tells me so,” then I am missing a piece of the answer. My answer is missing God’s heart. In 1 Peter 3: 15-16, Peter says, “15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.” Our response needs to be filled with hope because Christ is Lord of my life.

I have come across a lot of people who think Christianity is a miserable faith. A lot of these people have also reduced Christianity to a bunch of “dos” and “don’ts”. If this was the way that I viewed my walk with Christ (and I am tempted to sometimes) it makes sense that I would not have any joy as a Christian. And in turn would have a hard time explaining to someone the hope that I have. The whole reason why God gave the law and “rules” to his people was to show me just how far I have fallen from where God indented me to be and how much I need Jesus. My hope comes the fact that as Paul says in Galatians, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

What I need to remind myself daily is that behind any of the Bible’s/God’s instructions for my life are his good heart. He loves me so much. He knows that sin hinders my relationship with Him. It always has. We when we look at the Bible we can see a clear relationship between sin and closeness with God. Adam and Eve are the perfect example. Their conscious choice to go against God’s will for them, caused them to be expelled from the garden.

God has incredible things in store for us, when someone asks why we’re not doing something that we’ve chosen not to do because it’s sinful, let us consider this answer: “Because the God who loves me tells me that the fulfilling life He has in store for me will be robbed by things which pull my attention away from Him. It may look really good now, but later I’ll feel discontent and disconnected from God. And it’s just not worth it to me.”

May we be filled with grace and God’s Spirit as we strive to live for Him! Consider the words to this hymn.

“O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.”