Life Swap

LIFE SWAP

Recently, I watched "Wife Swap", I've never seen this show before, but I really enjoyed it. 2 Wives swap homes/families for 2 weeks and work with the other spouse and children and they are extreme opposites. Really strict wives go to homes where there is too much freedom and no rules and vice versa. I thought both families could use a lot adjusting and maybe Dr. Phil.
The family that gave their kids too much freedom needed to tighten up and start being parents and stop letting their kids run wild. The other family needed to loosen up an stop being so strict, rigid, and tough. One home was like a prison and the other was like frat house.

I found it interesting that neither being too strict or not being strict enough was healthy. Both familes had emotional problems, no communication, and some serious issues.
It made me think about life and how maybe we all could use a little "Life Swap". A lot of people live at 2 extremes with God. They either are too rigid, legalistic, judgemental, or harsh in their beliefs or faith, or they have not faith, and they live a life with not morals, values, boundaries, and convictions. Neither is healthy.

God wants to have a personal relationship with us. He doesn't want us to be religious robots and yet He doesn't want us live a life neglecting, abusing, or mocking Him. Now, I'm not saying that stuffy christians ought to go wild and that wild people ought to become monks or nuns.
What I am saying is that we need to realize that neither lifestyle is healthy at that their is a common ground found in a personal relationship with Jesus. God never called Christians to be uptight, judgemental, narrow-minded, legalistic, or shun a lost world. However, He didn't create us with no boundaries, no guidelines, and for us to just live our lives with no acknowledgement of a Creator.

If you are too wrapped up in keeping religious rules and making your faith a prison, you need to rethink what you consider real faith. If you are living your life with no regard to a creator or savior, maybe it's time to re-evaluate your direction in life. Maybe we all could use a little life swap. God didn't send Jesus to die on the cross so that people would become obsessed with religion and forget a relationship and at the same time He didn't send Jesus to die on the cross so that people could live their lives ignoring that gift and sacrifice. He did die for everyone, all, for whosoever will.

Jesus swapped His life in Heaven and lived life in human flesh and died a cruel death so that each of us would have hope, forgiveness, grace, and unconditional love. I think that is something we all could learn from. Let's meet Jesus in the middle and not live our lives at opposite extremes of the cross.

"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men."
John 1:4 (NIV)