Time on my hands

This week has given me more downtime than I usually have. The upside has been listening to several new audio books, the downside has been reading email I probably would have just deleted in normal circumstances. If nothing else, I will no longer feel even a twinge of remorse in deleting emails sent encouraging me to "honor God" "show you love Jesus" or any other "Christian" label.

If this week has done nothing else it has reaffirmed to me just how right Rob Bell was when he said "Christian is a great noun and a poor adjective." -Velvet Elvis, Repainting the Christian Faith.

It seems many wish to qualify their ideas by using the word "Christian" as an adjective. According to the American Heritage Dictionary when the word is used as an adjective it means: relating to or characteristic of Christianity. As a noun the definition is: One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus.

I will admit I have long held a distaste for labeling things Christian. From music to businesses, to books to read, I could never understand the need or even the desire to limit God by labeling only certain things as belonging to Him. He is the creator of the world. Everything already is His. I can find truth and encouragement from many sources. They do not have to be a product of a Christian manufacturer or publisher. A poem which celebrates the beauty of the earth, regardless of the writer's spiritual state, celebrates God. For how can you honor the beauty of the object and not honor He who created it? Many times a song has touched my heart or opened my eyes to a life lesson. Most often God has used a "secular" song. Is there even such a thing? God created the songwriter. He created the musicians. Their work would not be here to reach me if not for Him

I am a Christian. Everything I do falls under the teachings of Jesus. I take those teachings with me everywhere. They go with me when I go to work, to the grocery store, when I pump gas, when I chat with the mailman and when I go to church. They are no more important in the latter than they are in the former. Everywhere I go and everything I do is done because of how Jesus is teaching me to live my life.

Deleting from this day on with no guilt,

jené