Living right or fully?

Here again, I find myself typing when I should be sleeping. But I just can't help myself.

Mike Yaconelli's statement was: "Most people believe that following Jesus is all about living right [bold italics mine]. Not true. Following Jesus is all about living fully."

Mike is writing about passion and what it means to live a passionate life. I could spend hrs writing my thoughts on this one word/thought. My life, and how others have discribed me; is all about passion.

But what I want to comment on, is Mike's statement quoted above. I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment. It has not been until recent years that I finally began to realize this fact. I've been a christian for 20 yrs now. And as I think back over that time, most of what I have been taught is about living "right." Being a "good christian," being perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, etc., etc.

But wasn't Jesus the one that said "I came to give you an abundant life"? Living life each day and especially christianity is more than following the rules, the do's and don'ts. (Go back to my previous blog on this subject of rules to see some of my other thoughts on that subject.) Following Jesus is about a relationship with the Creator of the universe, not about a list of rules.

I have learned the past few years, as I began tryin NOT to be this perfect...follow all the rules and expectations... good christian; I found myself falling more and more in love with Jesus. I actually began to relax. I wasn't worried that I didn't study or read my Bible all the time. I found myself trying to understand and relate to "non-christians". I began to look at the world more thru their eyes and even experience and do things that most christians would be totally offended at. But wasn't that what Jesus did? He lived with the "sinners", ate with them, touched the un-touchables, etc. Jesus understood the culture in which He lived. And I want to understand more about the culture I live in, instead of burying myself inside the "christian sub-culture."

And where did this whole idea of "good" christian come into play anyway. My Bible says nothing about good christians or bad christians. You are either one or the other. You are either a follower of Jesus or you aren't. Jesus doesn't make those kind of distinctions, so why should we? It's kinda like those levels of sin the church has. Little white lies are down on the bottom of the scale of "bad" sins. Then on up a little, is gossip or stealing. On up a little more is divorce. And of course up there near the top of the worst sins (some have even labeled the unforgivable sns is; Oh dare I say it...homosexuality. Well, my Bible says God sees sin as sin. There are no levels of sin in God's eyes. It's either sin or righteousness. I wonder what would happen if we started seeing people as Jesus does? Seeing sin as Jesus does. I think we really have a worped sense of right and wrong, good and bad.

Ok, ok, I know, I am way off topic. Told you I was passionate. But are you getting my point yet?

I guess my whole point was to emphasize the difference in tryin to live "right" vs living "fully." If its up to me, now that I'm a little older and wiser, I think I would much rather live "fully" (even if it means I mess up more and find myself in more messes that Jesus has to come rescue me from) than to try to live "right" all the time. When I was tryin to live "right" I always felt comdemned and worried that I was not living up to someone elses expectations or following all the rules that told me I was a "good" christian.

What is more important to you, right or full?