Come As You Are...

Imagine your best friend calls you up and asks you to come to a black-tie-only event she is hosting and it's free of charge to all her friends, including you...tonight! "You mean tonight-tonight? As in now?" 

You probably don't just have a ball-gown laying around the house. But you can't pass up free tickets to an event like this--especially with a personal invite from your best friend! She chimes in as a zillion frenzied questions zing left and right in your brain:

"Don't worry, I have the most beautiful dress you can wear! Just come! It will be waiting for you at the door." That best friend of yours! Always so thoughtful! Of course you'll go, how can you say no? "See you soon!" she says excitingly and hangs up the phone. You can hardly contain yourself. There's no time to waste! You jump in your car and begin making your way to the event. It's going to be incredible! One million selfies are going to blow up your Instagram feed. All your other friends are going to want an invite to this party! Music, dancing, great food, and your best friend all in one exquisite place--and it's free! Wow! 

As you zoom along you shift around in the driver's seat. Your favorite yoga pants, the black ones with the tear in the knee that you've been pining for all day are keeping you cozy. You start to wonder, Do I really want to trounce around in an evening gown all night? Before your friend called you up, you had already put on your lounging clothes. The warmth and comfort of those clothes now practically beg you to keep them on. A dress and heels is beginning to sound less and less appealing as you make your way to the event. A dress with ribbing and a zipper up the back? Meh. You shift around some more at the thought of it just as you enter stop and go traffic. What if you don't even like the dress? What if it doesn't fit right? What if it's orange--how could you possibly live that down? Fear grips you now as you grip the wheel. What have you gotten yourself into? 

You're already wearing clothes that fit well and look cute with a messy bun. You're going to be so uncomfortable in about fifteen minutes. Your I'm-staying-in-for-the-night-watching-Netflix-and-eating-ice-cream attire weighs heavier and heavier on your positive attitude and outlook on tonight. Maybe you should just skip this altogether. It's such short notice anyway. She'd understand. 

Except...it's free--an amazing probably once-in-a-lifetime event and your very best friend invited you. The struggle is real. You wrestle inside contemplating calling it a day and turning around versus pressing on and enjoying yourself at what will probably be the most to die for event of the year.

Suddenly a thought pops in your head: A compromise can be made. Perhaps instead of swapping your cozy clothes for that restrictive (and possibly orange) dress, you could just keep on the clothes you are wearing right now. After all, you've had a hard day, you've been looking forward to taking it easy tonight and you deserve to relax after the week you've had. Besides, it's your bestie who's hosting this thing. She knows you, she knows what kind of job you have and  she can relate! She knows you worked hard all week and that you've never really liked dressing up anyway. She'll understand. She's chill and you guys are tight. She gets you. You don't have to put on a show for her. That's not who she is. She'll probably say it's more important that I just showed up anyway. 

Arriving at the venue, you opt for valet at their red carpeted entrance. After all, you know the host better than anyone. You waltz down the catwalk of paparazzi outside and blow past security objecting about the way you are dressed. You simply laugh it off because your best friend is the host; she's inside waiting for you. These nobodies to you keep insisting that you must put on the gown your friend left, but you just smile and wave as you push through the doors. You have the highest connection at this event and you belong here.

Once inside you start making rounds introducing yourself to new people and greeting familiar faces. Name dropping that awesome best friend of yours who just so happened to have a free ticket for you tonight is a sure way to make new friends and keep old ones! You drool over at the desert table and stuff your face with all sorts of appetizers before taking pictures with your best friend's family. They are all dressed to the Nine's! It's a shame that they were not able to dodge the whole black-tie thing though and wore whatever they wanted to. They must not feel as connected as you do. You always knew you were closer to her than the people she called family. Those suits look so stiff and stuffy. You're so glad you can come as you are with your best friend. You can truly be yourself around her without all the fuss. Black-tie doesn't apply to real friends.

After meeting everyone in the place you continue searching the room to find her, that most generous best friend of yours you've been telling everyone about. Finally you see her across the room. You barely recognize her in that dazzling and sparkling dress she has on! Was your dress anything like hers?... She's gorgeous tonight. You can't wait to tell her how great she looks. You begin to wave frantically and excitedly, calling her name and shouting what a great party this is! She hears your voice and begins to smile looking around for you. When she finally locks eyes with you the joy in her eyes begins to fade. She doesn't return your enthusiasm. She slowly and quietly walks across the room to you. Her face begins to form a pained expression and you think you see tears threatening to smear that flawless application of mascara she's wearing. She seems upset about something but you can't imagine what. 

She stops in front of you and gains her composure but still seems confused and hurt by something. Then she asks you where the dress she left for you is. Apparently you're the one who's caused her this grief. Your oversized Tee and yoga pants outfit is apparently not as easily overlooked by your friendship as you had imagined, but there's more to it than that: "The dress I set aside for you tonight was perfect. It was special because it was made for you. I chose it myself, I paid for it myself. Why aren't you wearing it? How could you ignore a gift from me like that? I thought we were best friends. There are people here I barely know who followed my instructions for black-tie only attire. Don't you know this is a very formal event and you needed to have an evening dress on to be in here with me? We can't let you stay, or anyone else, if they are not dressed appropriately as you are now." She takes a deep breath that is holding back her grief. "We must ask you to leave now."

Well this is outrageous! Why can't I just be who I am? "I thought we were friends?"! I'm your best friend! If anyone deserves to be here it's me! Half these people don't even know you like I do! How could you do this to me?! Your mind and heart race with emotion but you have no words. You're enraged by her tone with you. Her disappointment when she first saw you was enough but her audacity to ask you to leave because of something so insignificant as a dress? Your friendship should surely mean more than a dress! Un-real. She should just be happy you showed up to begin with. You didn't have to come to this. You didn't even plan on coming to this. It was so last minute, how can she expect you just to drop everything and get all dressed up like that? 

You shrug your shoulders and think I see what true friends we are. You don't even care that I'm here. All you care about is that stupid dress. It's not really her business anyway what you wear. You're perfectly fine in what you have on, you're comfortable and would be accepted anywhere else you went with any other friends you have. You have the right to wear whatever you want. It's your body and your choice. Who asked her anyway? 

Her father comes over, the one who helped throw this party in his daughter's honor for her and all her friends. He's heartbroken that she's heartbroken. Your refusal to wear the dress she had taylor made for you out of her own money is like a slap in the face. The venue will not allow you to walk around dressed in next-to-sleepwear so security has been standing by to remove you from the facility. 

You're fuming mad, and who wouldn't be? How embarrassing to be kicked out of a party by your own best friend, the host of the event, who asked you to come in the first place? What kind of friend would turn you away over some dress code violation? You won't go without a fight. You begin kicking and screaming as you are carried out the door by security, the men who tried to hand you the dress when you arrived in the first place. 

This adapted story can be found in Matthew 22. 

Here's the truth spiritually speaking:

IF YOU'RE INVITED TO THE WEDDING FEAST, YOU DON'T GET TO PICK THE ATTIRE. 

YES, Jesus invites us to come as we are. How generous, how gracious! We can come wearing nothing at all (in fact, Jesus sees us that way without him, completely naked and exposed) and He has clothes waiting for us to wear. They are His clothes to give, His very own righteousness. He died to clothe us in that righteousness! What a costly, precious gift! Who would dare brush them off as unnecessary or too restrictive? They are ours as a gift free of charge from our loving host, our best friend.

And God is Holy. His holiness demands that we be holy. We can only become holy by putting on Christ, by dying to ourselves daily, taking up our cross and following Him.

The invitation to come stands, but we must take what is offered in order to fully receive the invitation. We must come as we are to the table of God, and He will change us from glory to glory. But not if we are clinging to former "clothes" we think are more suitable for us than what Christ offers. There is one way that leads to salvation, only through Jesus. We cannot hold tightly to our comfortable rags when He's offered us priceless attire of His own. 

Give What You Have

Our hearts are filled up to the brim with God's love. Now what?

Pour out.

Because conference jumping and good services that give you goosebumps was not all that God had in mind. His ministry to us is multipurposeful. Because we have freely received, now we also freely give. His act of love is our model; we see what the Father does and so we as sons and daughters model Him.

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. (Acts 3:1-10)

Can you imagine Peter passing this guy up because he was on his way to a prayer meeting? So many other people did! What he had, he gave to him. He poured out. 

Let us not become fooled into thinking we need to feel a certain way or have to have what we think is a good amount of Jesus before we give what we have been given already. Pour out. 

Doctrine

So many different church traditions. Many different doctrines. Why? Aren't we all reading from the same book? Where does all the differences come from?

Experience. 

Some have set hedges around their own experience, pointing to it saying "this is what we should believe." Experience is a great gift, but it should never be the foundation of our belief system, especially if it doesn't line up with God's Word. Experience should serve the Word, not the other way around. If you are taking scripture apart to support all your life experiences, take caution and change course.

Hard Questions

There are many problems in this world. The problem of evil, the problem of pain. And the supernatural is beyond our finite reasoning. Sometimes we can't explain how or why certain things happen, or are 'allowed' to happen, so we come up with theories. We need answers for hard questions. Scripture is scoured to find the right verse to sustain our own ideas and opinions and we come up with what we think should be doctrine. It happens more often than not.

Various Interpretations

Two people who read the same verse can come up with two very different interpretations. That's why when we read we should be good students and do some research. We should also realize we bring a lot of baggage to the table--cultural or otherwise. Scripture was never meant for us to pour meaning into it. It breathes with meaning, with purpose, with life. So much damage can be done when scripture is taken out of context and thrown around to suite our own purposes. 

Baby Out With the Bath Water

Some church traditions and doctrines have changed because they seemed like the next upgrade. Martin Luther left the Catholic tradition and formed the Lutheran church because he didn't believe in Catholocisms works trumping grace message and had differing views on the sacraments. He also wanted to throw out the book of James altogether because it leaned too much toward works in his opinion. I'm seeing the same kind of exodus in the Assemblies of God.  Some have left and have thrown off anything deemed a 'restraint'--church membership, tithing, the Old Testament... Freedom is not the absence of accountability, the absence of commitment, the absence of God's law. That sounds more like chaos to me.