No Fixed Abode

I read 10 steps to a God-centered life earlier and it made me cringe! The majority of the comments acknowledge that guidelines like this may help people but are fundamentally flawed. To me it reeked of ’self-help’ and ’simple steps to being successful’. The recognisable stench of religiosity. I choose to follow the call into relationship with God and I think that we can put things in the way of the relationship. For the majority they just deny the offer and choose not to enter relationship with God but those who choose have, over the ages, managed to hinder the relationship so much. It is not because they don’t want it just that it isn’t what they expected. The relationship, like our human ones, start getting real, deep and challenging. It can get too close to our insecurities, doubts and self-protection mechanisms. We don’t like it so we push God away, not in an obvious way but a subtle denial of His love.

It is different for many of us and it can get complex. Some leave the church* and some go as far as leaving faith. Others make faith a superficial or shallow thing. Others break it down into morals and principles. Historically, the journey of faith has commonly been lost in traditional systems, structures and hierarchy of religion.

This list boxes my journey with God in. Never mind the simple fact that it is far from exhaustive, that if you followed this list you may end up getting no closer to God (that is a more personal point), God is just simply bigger than a 10 point guide. Yeah there are things we can do that will help relationships along but we can get ourselves into situations where we reach ‘justification through the quiet time’, we forget Jesus loves us because we forgot to read the bible, that God may ignore us if we don’t turn up at a particular building on a Sunday morning. A list also makes it seem too easy; as if an intimate relationship with God can be easily reached through completing a daily list of chores.

There is then the cultural flaw. My generation doesn’t like lists. They don’t work in a postmodern society that likes to explore and discover their own space and identity, their own way of doing things. I remember a great quote:
“Love God and do whatever” - St Augustine

I fully recommend that people imitate Christ, love God and love others and note that the spiritual disciplines do make a difference to ones life.

* (I have stopped going to church more then once, I haven’t left the Church. At first because I was disillusioned and more recently because, for me, in my culture, the church structure doesn’t float… you’ll find many a rant about that within this weblog)