What would I give up?

Here are some rambling thoughts for today. . . . . Hopefully I can get them to make sense to you - or at least to me. . .

I am so thankful to have grown up in a Christian home.  My parents modeled what it was like to be Godly parents and always strove to emulate God's love to us.

As I grew up and took my Christianity on for myself, I started to create an image of what a "good" Christian would look like.  You know, the "thou shalls" and the "thou shall nots"??  You know what I mean.  As a Christian you cannot do __________.  As a Christian you MUST do ________ .  I had my list of rules and regulations as to what the outward image of a Christian would look like.

Over the years some of those images have changed.  Of course the things that the Bible clearly states should or should not be happening in my life are still there.  The black and whites if you will.  It's those grey areas that I'm unsure about.  However, even in those grey areas, I've decided for myself that there are some things that while maybe grey, I make them a little more black or a little more white.

I know for myself, I can be judgmental.  I can look at someone and make a judgment call and think to myself (and HOPEFULLY not voice it out loud!) that "Oh they must not be a Christian" - solely based on what I am seeing.  As I have grown and changed in my Christianity I have realized how wrong I can be in making those judgments!!  WOW! As I've gotten to know someone, I've realized that I don't know their stories.  I don't know their path that they have walked, and I certainly do not know where their hearts are just by looking and making that judgment call.

And I know I unfortunately still do it.  I do it with those around me.  I do it with my family.  Not always about the Christianity issue but other issues too.

This morning, as part of a Bible Study I am involved in, I was reading from Acts 18:12-22.  This wasn't really what the study was about, but as I read and reread through the passage I was struck by an odd verse.  Paul had been brought before the courts by several different Jews because they didn't like what he was doing.  These were people that he was teaching and in the end the courts decided that the issue was between themselves and not something for the courts. Paul left the area and headed on to other parts of his journey.

Verse 18 reads like this:  Paul stayed in the city several days after that and then said good-bye to the Christians and sailed for the coast of Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. At Cenchreae Paul had his head shaved according to Jewish custom, for he had taken a vow.  

What an interesting verse.  What kind of vow did Paul take that would make him shave his head?  As I researched a little into it, I realized it went back to the Old Testament Nazarites.  Now Paul had always preached that because of Christ's death, the laws from the Old Testament were done away with, so why was he following one of those laws?  As I was reading, I wondered if this was something Paul was doing because as he was headed to Syria, there were those there that still practiced this law.  I couldn't really find a reason as to why he did it, and I know that it was barely mentioned in this passage, but I really got to wondering WHY he did it.

The Old Testament Jewish law in the Nazarites shaving their heads was because they were separating themselves to the Lord. See Numbers 6:2-21  The vow included shaving their head, not drinking wine or anything with vinegar in it, etc.  All these things were done to show their dedication to God during that specific time.  I don't believe Paul felt that he still needed to do that (everything in his letters show us that he truly felt the OT was in the past and the old law needed not be followed) so I wondered why he would be following this OT practice.

A couple things crossed my mind.  I know before Easter, I like to observe Lent.  I wondered it this wasn't Paul's way of observing a sort of lent.  But what I also thought was, maybe he was going to a group of people that observed this law and he wanted to show that he respected what they were doing.  Not that he believed this was the way to God, but that he respected their practices.

I got to thinking about what I do.  I know that I believe that as Christians we should be a certain way.  I also know that as a Christian, I don't think we have to be a certain way that others do think.  And I wondered if I was so set in my ways that I wouldn't change to respect their beliefs.  Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about taking up a practice that goes against what the Bible teaches.  But if I was going to a home that felt the women should wear dresses.  Or head coverings.  Or not speak in a church. Etc.  Would I be willing to take on their practices out of respect for their beliefs or am I so set in what I believe, so adamant that I don't need to follow those practices that I would stick to my guns and do what I felt was right?

I wonder if that was what Paul was doing.  Was he following this practice out of respect for the people that he was going to?  To show them that it's not what you practice that makes you a follower of Christ, but rather it's what Scripture is telling us.  Sure these people may still be following some of the OT practices, but if their heart was in the right place and they were following the Scriptures, then that is what mattered.  So perhaps Paul shaved his head out of respect for them, not to mention that doing so, would also allow him to share and talk with them, when perhaps otherwise it might not have happened.

And so it was with those thoughts that I wondered, would I do the same?  Would I be willing to give up some of my comforts, some of my feelings, in order to win others to Christ? Would I be willing to give up my judgments of others in order to present the Gospel to them?  Would I be willing to enter their world (AGAIN - without compromising what the Bible teaches me!) to share Christ with them?  Would I be willing to give up my comforts to share Christ?  Would I be willing to give up the luxuries that I experience here in Steinbach to share Christ with others?  Would I be willing to take on some of their cultural experiences in order to share Christ?  

Am I willing to put down all of my comforts to share Christ with others???  

After all, look what He gave up for us!!!!!