"OBLIGATION" IS THE CAGE
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
-by Wayne Jacobsen.
Over the last decade I've communicated with thousands of
people whom God has awoken to the fact that they have
grown up in religious cages that have stunted their growth
and robbed them of God's life.
But not all who find themselves outside the box thrive in
their newfound freedom. Though many do, others find living
outside disorienting and uncertain. While they know well the
pain of the box they were in, they don't know how to thrive
outside of it. Nothing works the way they are used to and
if they don't learn to live differently their release will be their
ruin. They will soon learn that freedom itself is not the goal.
It is only an opportunity. If they don't use it to live more
deeply in Jesus they will find themselves using it to stew in
their anger at the cage that held them or to succumb to the
ever-enticing flesh.
I know the analogy almost begs misunderstanding so let
me be clear from the outset. If you're thinking the cage
represents those who participate in a Sunday morning
event in those buildings many mistakenly call 'churches,'
you would be wrong. It is not as simple as that. The cage
that imprisons God's people is not religious institutions
per se, but the system of religious obligation that many of
them (though not all) use to preserve the institution or to
advance its program. Just because you meet in a home is
no guarantee you've broken free of this system either. By
moving it into a more intimate setting it only becomes more hurtful.
But no matter how we gather with believers, God wants all
of us liberated from the cage of religious obligation. Because
it is based on human effort for spiritual growth and community
life, this cage is lined with guilt that you're never doing enough
to earn God's favor and it is laced with the fear that your
spiritual security lies in conforming to the doctrine and
program of the group. It often focuses on an institutional
program or someone's personal vision, rewarding those who
conform while abusing those who do not.
Many of us who gave ourselves wholeheartedly to that system
were shocked to find out that it could only deliver an illusion
of God's life but never the reality. It exploited our most noble
intentions and imprisoned us with our basest desires. It
offered temporal security, spoon-fed nourishment and even
some emotionally satisfying moments, but it could not let
us soar to the heights. This system only wore us out with
its programs, exhausting our efforts while bearing little fruit,
and while it could conform our external behavior, it could
not transform our inner thoughts and motives. So sin still
undermined us, guilt consumed us and emptiness hounded
us and we were only left with the inescapable conclusion
that it wasn't working because we weren't trying hard enough.
But every once in awhile God will allow his followers to see
through the illusion of religious obligation and see what a
failure it truly is. This usually comes with considerable pain -
either exposure of our spiritual shallowness or of the
exploitation or betrayal of someone we thought was a
close friend.
People react to those moments differently. Some take their
liberty and go on in a relationship with God that becomes
deeper and more powerful every day. Others may blame the
symptom of the pain (an abusive leader or intransigent
institution) and miss the larger reality of how the system itself
destroys.
They may move outside the box, but with considerable anger.
Unresolved pain quickly devours their passion for Jesus and
they find themselves emptier in freedom than they did in the
cage.
Others become so jaded they shun even genuine expressions
of fellowship, fearful they will end up in another counterfeit.
Neither the bondage of religion nor the complacency of
freedom will lead people into Father's fullness.
If we don't find a greater freedom in Jesus outside the cage
we will wither away.
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