Holy Roller

I've been thinking alot about doctrine here lately...1 Timothy 4:16 says " Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do you will save both yourself and your hearers."

I hear the words "it doesn't really matter" a lot in my christian circles when it comes to things in scripture, and I'm wondering if that general attitude is coming from genuine apathy or is coming from fear. If I were to take scripture at face value, and really do what scripture says Gods children will do then quite honestly I would be living much differently than I do at present. I've been wondering, why haven't I made that all or nothing effort in living by the book. Jesus said that His commands are not burdensome, so thats no excuse.

The core doctrine of Scripture centers on love, love for God and love for others. (Matt. 22:37-39) Everything else revolves around that, every last bit of scripture and every last bit of command is based on love. So when I read the words of Peter and Paul in regards to the issues of women, involving modesty and roles in the church and later discuss those same commands with believing friends who say to me that "it really doesn't matter" I have a hard time there.

Do I think that women should teach in the church... yes, but they should teach only other women. Is that hard? Of course, it's part of the curse. Does it really matter, it absolutely does. God gave us that word out of love for us, not to burden us but so that we can fulfill our true purpose in Christ which is not to take authority over men. Do I think Christian women should dress and behave in a modest way, yes I do, although I'm still trying to figure out what that looks like for my own life. Does it need to involve long skirts and long hair, at least for me? I'm not sure yet, but it does need to involve an acute amount of self awareness in the way we present ourselves to the world. Again it absolutely matters, how many men have fallen because of the floozy in the front row at church? Too many marriages and families and whole congregations for that matter have fallen apart because of man burglars taking what isn't theirs to take. Even if it wasn't entirely intentional to begin with.

There are so many details to the Christian life and they all center on love, how can I then realizing that take any one portion of His word with a grain of salt? It is all so extremely valuable and it is all meant for my good. All of it matters. There are core issues that must come first and the details follow after, but the details matter too. Keeping Gods word with extreme effort is not legalism unless done without love for God and love for others. How radically different would life be if I practiced that? I think I'll try it and find out, praying for Gods grace and wisdom.

~Amanda