Do you ever wonder...

... if somehow our westernized mindset has completely messed everything up?

that in an effort to make things simpler, that we've actually made things harder?

im reading the book Love Wins by Rob Bell. i know... whoa controversy... but i havent come across that yet.

what i have come across is love. in iits simplest form. its so easy. you just love. nothings else. there's not a set of rules or guidelines that you have to follow. just love. 

its interesting because the people of the old testament lived my law. the 10 commandments. sacrifices. rituals. you name it. 

and then came this man called Christ. He changed everything. a radical. a man who would change the world.

yet the Pharisees still lived by the law. they were the ones coming after Jesus & His followers... asking the questions to basically have Him "prove" that He was the Son of God. 

but i wonder... a lot of people say that they live in love & grace... but do they? do i? do we? 

i will be the first person to say that i do not always follow those rules. but i try. i really do. 

but think about it. "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." (galations 5:1)

but how many laws or rules have we picked up after accepting the freedom of Christ? does the verse go... "for it is by reading your bible every day that you are saved?" does it read "go to church every sunday & your name will be written in the book of Life? 

or does it read this...

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." (ephesians 2:8,9)

now dont get me wrong. i think that reading your bible & praying are crucial to growing in your faith.

But... that is not what will save me. that will not make me any better than anyone else. 

if i learn anything from reading this book it will be that love wins. really. maybe not in the context that he is writing about. but in the context of the Lord i believe just that. that the Lord is love. and to love others is to love the Lord. 


that's what ive got right now. that's what i know. that's what i hope for. 


so courageously willing to keep on being wrong... or maybe sometimes right...
lauren