The Good and the Bad in Traditions: Only Christ Can Really Set Free

they are all estranged from me through their idols. Eze 14:5b 

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Joh 8:36  

Traditions are good in that they bring order in society. That is always the aim. Without them what would ensue is chaos. And what they achieve is always for the benefit of the whole society. That is what our traditions did. They served their purposes (and they served it very well, for the good ones) - but that was only for their time, as scripture says, ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven’ (Ecc 3:1). 

We have now come very far, and we shall never go back again to where our forefathers were. There was The Old Testament and now is The New Testament, and the one was a shadow… a prefiguring of the lives we are living in at present… and yet the final is not even here yet. More changes are still to come.

Time is dynamic, and never static, and so is change, and so are our bodies, for one time we are babes, and then another time we are adults, and later still we grow old, we break, we die… we become dust.

Just like traditions.

But with the exception of one: God.

So has his claims been proven? Have they withstood the test of time?

Yes.

Why?

Because everything in history was driving towards this end - his story.

We came from him, and we shall always be restless until we go back to him.

Is this claim true? What has been the testimony of our lives?

I don’t know yours. But I know mine. And this is that testimony…

What I believed as a child

Even before I got saved there were certain beliefs which disturbed me, like that one cannot be rich in this world without cheating… or that a bright child carried the genes of his father, whereas a foolish one had the mind of his mother…

This was just one out of many… Which ones do you know and are still current?

I felt that ‘everybody’ made money the whole basis of education and living, but deep in my heart I felt this was not right... I felt a dissonance… a discrepancy… the stirring of a sour note… a jarring of conscience…

But I didn’t want to be different. And I didn’t want to be lonely. Rather I wanted to please all and be accepted by all. Which child doesn’t, Lord?

But the Child Spirit in Me Refused to Die!

There is much truth in Calvin’s observation that the grace of God is irresistible. I was only a child, but I felt heavily the darkness which was slowly encroaching on my life… and it made me very afraid.

But later I felt ashamed that I had allowed myself to ‘feel too much’ about these ‘very small’ things’! Why wouldn’t I agree with ‘everybody’ that they were right and I was wrong? But I grew up. And as an adult I forced myself not to ‘feel too much’ about ‘anything’. I concluded that ‘everybody’ was indeed right while I was wrong, and ‘everybody’ was ‘normal’ while I was abnormal. So now I became ‘normal’ like ‘everybody’, and I thought my life would be easy after that. But it had never been worse!

‘What had I done?’

That was the question that kept recurring in my mind. What I had done was to overturn the values which God had put in me as a child. And I hated the child spirit in me. I was an adult now, and doing certain things earned me respect among my peers, like lying, being angry, and stealing… But still I felt this was wrong! I felt false! And I felt greatly oppressed by this sort of double life and which I didn’t believe in in the least bit! This wasn’t me!

But I quickly reminded myself that I was now ‘normal’ like ‘everybody’. But it was a ‘normal’ which hurt and which was very painful. I felt a deep hatred for the society which had made me like this. And I felt even a heavier loathing for the God who had created me like this… why would I not feel ‘nothing’ instead of ‘feeling too much’? I became a cloud that was carried by a tempest. And I became a well without water.

Only the Truth of God can Set one Free

Do you, or have you ever felt something like that? Do you ever feel ashamed about what you believe to be right?

Do you feel that some traditions you profess are oppressive and are only holding you back from being your true self?

Do you value simplicity and authenticity?

Please don’t feel ashamed about it!

Does lying make you feel uncomfortable? Please it ought! And what of fornication, and stealing? Yes every evil thing should leave you feeling ashamed, because it is lying to the truth… and it is the sure way of digging oneself deeper into a bigger hole…

Being Different is not Always about Rebelliousness, but about Truth

If only parents would understand this!

But how shall they know it?

Preach to them prayerfully.

But if they still oppose you take comfort in his word.

‘Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword [division]’ (Mat 10:34). So Christ again says, ‘He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me’ (Mat 10:37).  

Right is right and wrong will always be wrong. These values will never change. If to choose Christ is to choose foolishness so be it…

And so Paul can count all things as loss compared to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus… And Peter can fall down at Jesus' knees and cry, ‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ And again, ‘the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.’ It is the child spirit which prompts one to say something like that, and don’t crush it! It is only a child spirit, and it is only God who gives it, and in strength he makes one feel like seven adults.