Living in Wild Abandon!

Thursday evening, August 28, 2008 [sunny and 89 degrees],
Have you ever considered the fact that, although Jesus repeatedly told us to follow Him, e.g. Matthew 16:24, He never once told us to follow His rules? He did, however, say this: If you love Me you will keep my commandments (John 14:15). You see, our loving Jesus and loving one another are the fruit of being His children; they are not rules we must learn to obey. His call to us is to follow Him, not His rules!
I really do believe that God has a people who truly desire to live in wild abandon (to use Brennen Manning words) to Jesus. Are you one of them? This is one of the true indications that you are: you are struggling to abandon something. What are you afraid to abandon? Your comfort? Your religion? Your riches? Your career? Your theology? Your parent's expectations? Your security?
Remember this: the rich, young ruler could not abandon his riches and he, therefore, missed out on knowing the true riches of living in wild abandon to Jesus. The Pharisees could not abandon their religion, and they, therefore, missed out on knowing the joy of living in intimate relationship with Jesus, intimacy that only wild abandon could produce.
By the way, this was Jesus' prayer: And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent (John 17:3). Did you notice how clearly He stated that eternal life has to do with knowing Him rather than following some system of rules? Did you notice that for Jesus, relationships were far more important than obedience to doctrine?
Until we are willing to live in wild abandon to Jesus, we will never truly know Him; instead, we will spend our lives trying to follow a system of rules, to obey some theological dogma, in an effort to please Him and, thereby, gain His acceptance. To say that another way: until we choose to live in wild abandon to Jesus, we will be nothing more or less than modern-day Pharisees—hypocrites. Rules will be far more important than relationships, and doctrine will always take precedence over relationships.
Unfortunately, most of us have spent our Christian lives learning what we cannot do (the rules of our religious culture), instead of celebrating who we are in Jesus.
Come on! Take the leap into wild abandon to Jesus—the Outlaw—who lived in wild abandon to His Father.
By the way, aren't politics something else! Just thought I would ask-