Trying Out Some Definitions

One of the challenges that I've heard several times recently is the challenge to be reading old Christian books. When we engage with people who are before our time, our blindspots are exposed. We get a more fully-orbed picture of the Christian life: life in the ruins but not of the ruins.

I particularly appreciate George MacDonald's writings (you can find his writings if you click on the free Christian classics link over to the right) with his passion for a life of obedience. Most of my adult Christian experience has been in churches that emphasize the centrality of grace. All well and good. However, to have someone articulate a passionate and vivid and distinct understanding of the importance of doing what is right is refreshing. MacDonald frames obedience in a way that it is deeply connected to the grace of God, not in competition with it. It's not 'grace or obedience' but rather 'obedience because of grace.'

And so I've come back to some defintions of temptation, sin, repentance and obedience in the past week or so that I've played around with before.

Temptation: the lie that life outside of God's gracious rule is better than life within it.
Sin: to act in faith on that lie
Repentance: to change our minds and our behavior (by the gift and work of the Holy Spirit) about the nature of true satisfaction and fulfillment; to be re-oriented around the promises of life found in Christ.
Obedience: to act in faith on the promises of God rather than the lies of temptation that come at us through the world, our own flesh and the devil.

I think that the key thing is to realize that both sin and obedience are acts of faith (hence the italics). In neither case do we exactly know what's going to happen to us, or what the outcomes will be. In both cases we're trusting in something outside of ourselves to make us feel more secure, complete, significant and/or whole. When I can begin to wrap my mind around the idea that sin is a faith act, that I'm actually making a conscious choice to attempt to live outside of God's gracious rule, then it helps me to see through the lies a little bit better. I'm motivated to seek first His kingdom, His righteousness. The decisions appear a little cleaner, a little clearer.

At least on my good days.