That Awful Blanket Called Religion
I read this devotional by Our Daily Bread titled ‘Outside In’ a few days ago and it stuck with me. It asks the question, are you changing from the Outside In, or from the Inside Out? (Click here to read the devotional on Our Daily Bread).
Are you changing from the outside in, or from the inside out?
The writer focused on the fact that many of us look to superficial and artificial ‘externalities’ like make-overs, or weight loss and stuff like that, hoping that drastic change on the outside will somehow magically sort out the tangled brokenness we are living through on the inside. And when we realise that that’s not going to change anything on the inside, we cling to the facade that these images create. The world looks at us and thinks, he or she must be doing okay because he or she is looking good on the outside.
But truth be told, that inner brokenness and turmoil that has framed and even maimed us remains. Make-over or no make-over.
And then I thought of the one facade that so many of us use. Yes, including us Christians. I call it that awful blanket called RELIGION.
Religion. Being really good. Following all the rules. Keeping away from the bad. And then patting ourselves on the back a million times a day because we think that because we are ‘better’ than the guy down the street who can’t keep his ‘stuff’ together, then we must be getting somewhere. We pride ourselves in our ability to be disciplined, and to stay away from the bad and always do the good …
…
All in a bid to mask the insecure brokenness that is etched deep inside our souls, taunting us, and reminding us that ‘we will never be good enough’, no matter how hard we try.
What is so bad about being ‘good’? You may ask. Let me address that as an aside.
You will know if your goodness is simply a cover up for ‘your inner brokenness and turmoil’ if your trigger response to weakness, sinfulness and hardship that you see in the world, is to be judgmental (even of those that you think deserve to be judged) and to deny people mercy (grace that they do not deserve). How can godliness breed mercilessness though? The wrath of man does not birth God’s righteousness.
Godliness and goodness are not the same thing. I spoke on this topic a few months ago. Check it out here.
Have you been covering up your broken inward parts by grasping at what you think is ‘goodness’? Have you frantically kept yourself ‘clean’ thinking that this is what will rid you of the inner pain and turmoil that accompanies your every waking thought? Have you been living off of the accolades that people so freely shower on folks like you who are able to be so ‘good’ in a world full of lots of ‘bad’?
Are you trying to keep your soul from freezing over by clinging to that awful blanket called ‘Religion’?
There is grace…for you.
Being good is great. But that’s way beneath what God has for you. Oh boy! He loves you. He wants you. He thinks your ‘goodness’ is cute…but He did not come to make you ‘good’ through how you behave on the outside.
He came to restore you to complete wholeness on the inside – nothing missing, nothing broken…RESTORED to the way it was in the beginning. Whole. Satisfied. Thriving from the inside out. Intimately dependent on God. Co-ruling with God to implement His will in the earth.
Yes, your ‘outward goodness’ is part of the mix. It is simply a natural result of your inner wholeness and reconnection to God. Your outward goodness will birth mercy and compassion for those who are also broken inside, and this will be what will draw them to Jesus.
AM I SPEAKING TO YOU?
If I am speaking to you, and you would like to do something real, tangible and measurable to untangle yourself from that awful blanket called ‘religion’, then you need to join The B.O.O.M Walk Program. Scroll down for more information about the Program, and GET BOLD. GET BRAZEN. SIGN UP. Dare to allow God to unravel you from that ‘thing’ that has been stifling you out of what I love to call, ‘the God life’.
Stay tuned…and tell somebody…share the link so they can sign up.
I am Toyin, fully convicted by my own words, and very much still under construction in the hands of the Father.
Hugs,
Christian Transformational Coach, Founder of The Narrow Gateway
The B.O.O.M Walk Program by Toyin Oladiran
We all come from somewhere. We all have our battle scars. We all have those life experiences, past or even ongoing, that have forced us into shadowy corners in our lives, preventing us from living fully, loving fully and most of all, serving God to the uttermost.
Some of us have carried on in this way, and gone on to do life ‘normally’, to become pastors, engineers, fathers, builders, lovers, secretaries, government officials, wives, teachers, sports coaches, gym instructors, you name it. Yet many are living a façade; a classic tale of smokes and mirrors. Many are carrying around, and being defined by those pivotal life experiences. Many have learnt to accept that this is just the way life is – living with and from the baggage.
What’s your scar? Where does it come from? Is it still driving your thoughts and responses to life? Are you tired of your scars keeping you wedged off into the fringes and sidelines of life, constantly angry, bitter, frustrated, rejected, insecure, proud, self-righteous … etc?
That’s what you and I will be tackling with the HOLY SPIRIT in The B.O.O.M WALK PROGRAM.💥
This Program is for EVERYONE…
…Yes, I said EVERYONE!
Be careful now. Do not think that only people who struggle with what we erroneously call ‘the big sins’ like murder, slavery, adultery etc struggle with the ‘Old Man’ (‘B.O.O.M’ stands for ‘bow out, Old Man’). Yes those are reflections of the ‘Old Man’ at work, but for the vast majority of people, the traits of the ‘Old Man’ are way more subtle, and internal.
I’m talking anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, self-righteousness, pride, fear, insecurity, rebellion against God, inferiority complex, lack of self-control…the list can go on.
The ‘Old Man’ thrives in secrecy… it’s all about the state of the mind, isn’t it?
Come on. Do not be afraid! And do not settle for more of the same!
Click here now to indicate your interest and to begin to prepare your heart and your spaces. The kind of transformation we are talking about here does not come by the click of a finger, neither does it come by lurking in a spectator’s seat. You need to take a bold step, own who you are and where you are at, and come along, for The B.O.O.M Walk Program.
I cannot WAIT to work with you. And if I am so excited about it, imagine how God, the Incredible Lover of your soul feels?😉
Hugs and Love,
Toyin Oladiran (Christian Transformational Coach and Creator of The B.O.O.M Walk Program)
The Narrow Gateway
We back your bold and brazen quest for #thatGodlife that is found by those who dare to enter by “the narrow way”.
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