If you smoke marijuana, you get -3 Jesus points. If you read your Bible, you get +1 Jesus
point. If you spend time in prayer, you
get another +1 Jesus point. If you say a
cuss word, you get –1 Jesus point. If you share the Gospel with someone, you
get +2 Jesus points. If you attend
church you get +3 Jesus points. To get a
girlfriend, you have to have at least +6 Jesus points. To get into heaven, you have to have +7 Jesus
points. So, you may have to choose
between going to heaven and getting a girlfriend depending on how many Jesus
points you have.
This is the hilarious offbeat humor my son, Andrew, and his
buddies would kid each other about during their many summers as Christian camp
counselors. Of course, it was all in
good fun.
Yet, each week behind the smiles and “I’m fine” automatic
responses of many Christians, the idea of earning “Jesus points” is no laughing
matter. I doubt most are aware of this
underlying belief because it’s a system of thinking that has infiltrated every
one of us. We inherited it from Adam,
whose mind was negatively reprogrammed with it when he ate from the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil.
It was a real tree which represented one of two ways to live
in a relationship with God. The second
and and optimum way to live was to be found in the Tree of Life. The first tree was all about adding up our
+’s and –‘s to determine our acceptance before God. (Genesis 2:9) This is living with a “law mentality”. The second tree was also a real tree which
represented living from the life Christ in us in delightful intimacy, which was
to spill over as unconditional love with other people. This is living with a “grace mentality”.
Unfortunately, the “law mentality” doesn’t automatically
leave us when we become Christ followers.
I wish it did. Don’t you? This is why Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:23
exhort us to reprogram our minds with grace and truth from an understanding of
the “full” Gospel taught in the preceding chapters of each letter. This is what God does to transform us more
and more!
Why is it so easy for us to say to a young child who does
something good that they are a good boy or good girl? Why is it so easy to default to believing
that God loves us less when we sin? Why
is it so easy to jump to the conclusion that God is mad at us because bad
things are happening? It’s because of the “law mentality”. Living from a grace mentality thinks and
lives the opposite way.
When I asked a 13 year old girl if her
dad, a pastor, was any different since he’s learned the grace message in our
ADT, she said with a smile. “Oh yes!
It’s like he won the lottery.
He’s so happy now!”
When our family notices we are different, that’s the “grace
mentality” of Christ in us!
Believe it! It's the Gospel.
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
