A Few Reminders From Mr and Mrs Sparrow

Sometimes the ordinary things in life can give us quick little lessons or encouragements, and that was the case in the yard a couple of days ago when I watched two little Cape Sparrows on our boundary wall.

We had had some rain storms and many birds were out and about happily preening themselves, and among them were these... who I will call 'Mr and Mrs Sparrow'.

As they moved around the wall, and I snapped a few pics, it was interesting to see how they stayed ‘together’ side by side. 

Reminded me of marriage and weathering storms together and coming out the other side still ‘together’, and that if God cares for sparrows, how much more he cares for us (Matt 10:29)

Even when one turned around and faced the other direction they still stayed ‘together’ - 

Reminded me that in marriage we can be taking different perspectives on things or focusing on different issues, but still be together, supporting each other.

One of them (the male) was more busy preening himself after the rain and the female just sat quietly and waited as he stretched out his wings or fluffed his feathers to rid himself of excess water.

Reminded me that in marriage as one is busy or needy the other one can sometimes best help just by ‘being there’ and patiently waiting. 

Sometimes they weren’t up as close to each other as other times, but they were still obviously very much ‘together’

Reminded me that there are always times in marriage where we have to give each other ‘space’, but yet we are still very much together in heart and our loyalty and love is still for our mate rather then flying off with the crowd.

This pic below was actually of the male still preening but with both their heads down it... 

Reminded me that the key to a good marriage is…heads bowed in prayer toward God. Dependance on God and keeping him front and centre is more important than anything else.

Whatever one of them was doing, these two little birds just seemed so content and happy to just be together, side by side facing the world, with their Creator’s eye watching their every move.

Reminded me that, not least in pandemic years, we need not fear, because if our Creator cares for sparrows, 

how much more does our Heavenly Father care and watch over us and our marriage, and our lives in general.

Fighting for Freedom - A Cross-cultural look: Part 5 - Being Human

As we conclude this series on fighting for freedom, often in discussions about freedoms, it seems to be a battle for arguments for and against particular types of freedoms or lack thereof. It can feel like it is a topic that is only about conflicts and differing opinions and goals.

But what if we recognised that underneath it all, we are all fighting for the same thing.

Firstly we are all fighting for what we think is 'right'. We are fighting for what we believe is good, beneficial and useful to us for our wellbeing and happiness in whatever way we define those things.  The problem is that we differ on what we think is 'right'….and that depends significantly on our worldview, whether we know Christ as Lord or not, or how much our society has influenced us and how much we have allowed God to transform and renew our minds according to his Word.

But secondly, we are all fighting not just for freedom for the ability to do certain human actions in daily life, but we are fighting for the freedom to be the human beings we believe we should be. 

We don't just want the ability to make certain daily decisions and act accordingly, we more fundamentally want dignity!

It is from whatever we believe is human dignity (honour) of being, that we derive what we believe should be human freedoms of decision for our doing.

Thus deep down, we are fighting for the freedoms that are rooted in the hunger of humans for honour.

Our desire for freedom is….the fight to be fully human - based on whatever you believe is 'being fully human'….you want the full dignity of that status acknowledged and allowed, and you see any restriction on living in the full dignity (honour) of being human as one and the same as restricting your rights to freedom.

Essentially it is a desire to be free to be you….

Free to be you?

Now, while that phrase fills our world, and some of you might be thinking that 'free to be me' is just plain sinful thinking….let us just pause a moment and think more deeply about this:

God created us as humans - we are meant to be human - we are meant to be who we were created to be.

If your worldview context includes God as Creator then you desire the freedom to be who you were created by God to be, and if some authority restricts that you will feel your created human dignity is being eroded.

But if it does not include God as Creator then you still desire the freedom to enjoy human dignity. However, either your society (if you submit to its demands) or yourself, becomes the measuring stick of what it means to be 'human', and what it therefore means to have 'dignity' (honour) ….and thus what it means to have 'freedom' ….and thus what 'freedoms' you will fight for believing that violations of certain freedoms are a threat to your—human—dignity (honour).

We see this awareness of being treated as 'less than human' and thus without (or with less) dignity, in things like:

Slavery - long been seen as treating people 'less than human' - to be 'owned' by another human and thus not allowed to make any choices about their own life - where to live, what to eat, what to wear, when to wake up, when to sleep, with whom to have sex and preventing them from owning anything themselves or being able to earn, buy and sell with their own money or tradable goods.

…and as an aside (but important aside)….I believe it was rightly observed and pointed out in a lecture by Martyn Isles that many women in our modern world feel that 'serving an employer is freedom and serving a family is slavery'…and this feeds an ungodly notion that a woman who does not have a paid job outside the home is not 'fully' who she should be…the inference is she is not fully the person (human) she is meant to be. When she believes this lie, she then 'fights' for the chance for the power of freedom beyond the home because she feels the home is a place where she is 'enslaved' (…to the kitchen sink, as is sometimes sarcastically - but harmfully - said)

Victim mentality - throws shame on your opponent and thus when you are successful at shaming someone else (lowering their status, image, reputation). It by default 'elevates' you - (raises your position relative to the opponent) to feeling restored to some degree in human honour, or at least higher than (looking down on) those who threaten what you believe is your right to human dignity ( honour).

Lockdowns - in these COVID years, lockdowns became no just a momentary sacrifice or inconvenience (especially in Melbourne, Australia who gained the sad reputation of being the most locked-down city in the world), but apart from the huge financial stress, it becomes a threat to being able to have the dignity of work, the dignity (sometimes called self-worth) of having a job (as opposed to being unemployed or a failed businessman or businesswoman), the dignity of providing for your family, and the fear of not being able to do those things, of feeling a failure….it is linked to being properly 'human' in its fullest sense.

Government control - whether it be lockdowns or masks or QR code check-ins or 'quarantine' regulations, people fear not having the freedom to 'determine their own destiny' - to choose how they live out their humanity, and to live to the full in the dignity of their humanity.  Again if you believe in God the Creator then your dignity is defined and directed by confidences and assurances of his design and the destiny that he has for you. But if you deny or ignore God and leave that all to society or yourself you will live according to how well you can control your ability to live in accordance with your idea of what defines the dignity of being human. Some people also substitute the authority of government for the authority of God in their lives and the government becomes where they put their trust, hope and confidence for guidance and safety.

African view of evil - evil is the disrupter/destroyer of virtue - where virtue is considered to be goodness and living in virtue is seen as being human - anything that inhibits what is believed to be part of the virtue of being human in community with other humans, is looked on as restricting/inhibiting the freedom to be full humans. This is not so different in all communities to one degree or another.

Poverty - is seen as preventing some people having the ability to enjoy the basic human food and shelter requirements for good health and safety, or even education, in order to have equal opportunity to social position and ability to care adequately for themselves and their family.

War dehumanises society - it involves people killing other human beings in order to preserve the dignity and freedoms of their own society. Human beings become enemies and a danger to each other instead of working together. It 'tears down' instead of 'building up' people and societies. It destroys business, breaks apart families, leaves children as orphans, ruins supply of goods and services etc etc. 

LGBTQ+ - separate of the issue that these are distortions of God's plan, people who categorise themselves this way feel that they are 'excluded' from acceptance in mainstream society and thus thought of as not as having equal human value as others, and thus they fight for what they believe is their identity as a human being.

Segregation - whether it be Apartheid or Vaccine passports, to be treated as 'not acceptable' to fully participate in community life along with everyone else is to be seen as less than equally valued and embraced as human, or prevented from full human participation in society. To be excluded from what other humans are doing, can make a person feel 'less than' others in value and dignity. It is the same concept of lepers in bible times who were excluded from society. When COVID-19 quarantine hotels were first instigated people made comments about how they felt like they were 'ashamed' because of the 'exclusion' they had to experience.

Ultimately, underlying all this is the inbuilt desire to 'be human'. Whether we understand it or not, or articulate it clearly or not, or even recognise it or not, ….because we were designed to be what we were created to be—human, it is what we seek to be. 

We are not 'accidentally' human, just like we are not 'accidentally' male and female as humans. We did not by chance, evolve to what we are, nor are we continuing to evolve into higher forms of humanity or into some other form of life. We were designed as uniquely humans, in God's image, within God's greater eternal divine purposes for his creation.

However, because of mankind's fall into sin, we are no longer fully what we were created to be. Human beings - as male and female - were created to have the honour of being in relationship with God. That is not some optional extra and nice addition to human existence like a bonus add-on, it is the very core of our being, reason for living, hope for the present and future, and what should define the root of our human identity.  

But its gone. 

And we search for this dignity of being 'human' because in its place all we have is shame, whether we fully realise it or not. We are not 'satisfied' and we 'feel' a need for something more that will give us true human dignity.

…interestingly, here in Africa, when a baby is born it is not considered yet fully human but grows into being fully human as it grows into higher and higher levels of relationship status within a community. Both evolution - which believes humanity evolves into higher and higher states of skill and communication and community over time (from apes to neandathol man to present man to ??? in the future), and African tradition seem to have a underlying awareness that humanity as it is 'lacks' something, and has needed and does need to 'progress'. The lie that is believed by both is that such 'progress' occurs, when in reality the longer a human being is alive and humanity continues, without the intervention of Christ, it does not progress but it continues on its path of regression - further and further away from the Creator with whom we were created to enjoy the honour of relationship.

But in this we see that there is a sense or sub-conscious awareness that being human is not just a 'physical' and 'biological' state, but a 'belonging' state and of 'knowing honour and value in relationship' state. …and we cannot escape that….

Our identity is rooted in what we understand to be our humanity. 

We are meant to be in right relationship with God and thus right relationship with the other humans God has made, and we seek for the peace and happiness of such relationship. But when we reject, ignore or reduce the part that God should play in our humanity, we don't just move on and still find all is well. Instead we continue to seek what we have lost, and seek it in all the wrong places. We seek to be human apart from the God who made and designed us as human. 

The first place we seek to find that lost human identity and honour is from relationships with other humans, especially with those who for some reason we feel we share some commonalities, shared goals or shared struggles. We may feel shamed and afraid when alone but that is eased when others welcome and accept us. But its just a warped shadow of the honour we are meant to know in relationship with God. 

Instead of giving to others from what God has given us, we begin wanting to get from others what we are meant to get from God. 

But we don't get from others what we hoped for. 

And what we get from others doesn't satisfy. 

Some give up and seek to exit life on earth, others accept this is all there is and seek to get as much from it as they can in this life on earth with little regard for anyone except themselves. Others try to redefine what it means to be human, to be someone of worth, to be male, to be female, so that it will fit their own ideas and sinful fallenness and they can feel they have 'achieved' it. Others keep searching.

In the West we have gone a step further and told ourselves that the answer lies in not only ignoring God's definition and design for being human, but we don't need to look to others either. We tell ourselves that we are sufficient as individuals to define our identity and thus should have the freedom to design a form of living according to that which we believe will make us feel the honour of being 'fully human', content and complete, satisfied and secure. But it doesn't and it won't.

*It bears consideration that…..To be 'human' as human beings created by God, we must acknowledge we are not all-knowing and thus we are not sufficient to determine what is best for us or what is true. Not only do we need God, but under God we need each other and the exchange of ideas and perspectives of insight that we all bring to the extensiveness of humanity. We should be free to think, analyse, gain knowledge, listen carefully to others even if they disagree, and above all bring all this together in the pursuit of what is true and best. To disallow certain people from speaking respectfully about their perspective and letting them be heard, while allowing others is to show partiality and inhibit humanity. It not only excludes and segregates but it ultimately steals from humanity the very broadening of knowledge under God that will benefit it and help us be 'human'. This is why the freedom to express varied ideas and opinions even if they differ from our own, to challenge each other, and stretch each others thinking is so important.

Some people in their desire to have freedom to 'live out' their humanity, want to shut down those who they feel are a threat to their opinion, cause or belief by which they have defined their idea of being 'human'. They are fearing what they believe is the freedom of their human dignity. But they don't realise that these Devil's offerings of 'freedom' are in fact bondage in 'freedom' language clothing.

True freedom of being truly human only comes through a new human identity in the second Adam - Jesus Christ. We were created as 'human' by the Divine and it is only through the Divine-who-became-human that we can individually be born again so as to belong together in a new humanity on God's design terms. 

Let us not belittle or deride the desires of others to pursue what they believe is the 'dignity of being human', but lets pray to be better bearers of the good news of how to know a new identity in the true humanity in Christ, to a desperately searching but hopelessly lost world.

Fighting for Freedom - A Cross-cultural look: Part 4

After looking in Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 at various cultural dynamics which influence how we understand 'freedom' across our world and in biblical history, we have to then ask—as the end of the previous post began to raise—how should we respond?

How should we respond?

I am cogniscent of the fact that freedoms are not to be assumed or treated lightly and we need to:

- be discerning, bold and careful, 

- we need to seek truth, 

- and we need to trust God. 

However there are a few other things that I think we need to be willing to acknowledge as influencing our perspectives: 

None of us like change. 

All of us find it hard to see life from other perspectives. 

All of us are prone to fear the unknown. 

We also need to further live in the light of the fact that:

Any world 'system' of government is flawed and corruptible. 

Any culture, any family, any individual is flawed and fallible. 

Only God is perfect and holy.

This world is not our true 'home' - we are sojourners passing through.

We can think that any governing 'system' different from ours is inherently dangerous to our 'free society'.  But while some systems might include factors that make them more vulnerable to corruption and sin than others, a democracy can be good but can also be a disaster if the people make bad leadership choices and the generally held beliefs in the society are destructive, and a monarchy can also be wonderful or terrible - just look at the book of Kings in Scripture. It's not that a monarchy (or other single leader systems) restricts freedoms and a democracy brings freedoms, or the other way around. 

Rather, when we are in Christ and choosing to live according to God's truth, we will know the freedom of his power and strength to experience his blessings. When we live outside his truth, we will know bondage….not according to cultural definitions of bondage, but in conflict with how God created us to live and have our being.

God's Word vs the World's cultures

It is really difficult to mentally step outside our own culture and see it more objectively. But the tiny glimpses God has given me by living in Africa these past 20 years has helped me so much to hold less tightly to one 'system' over another. I continue to learn (sometimes the hard way) to hold anything in this world less tightly. This world is not our permanent home. We are citizens of God's Kingdom, as ambassadors on earth for the period of our 'assignment'. Just like I am in Botswana to share Christ and not make it like Australia so its more comfortable for me to live in, I am on this earth, not to make it like I think things ought to be for my good, but to be salt and light, bringing God's word of truth and pointing people to Christ so as to help them be able to live with him eternally. 

We could call this Word vs Worldliness….what the world calls freedom may not be what God's Word calls freedom. We are not called to promote one type of 'freedom' over another, but we are called to bring people into knowing true eternal freedom, the freedom from sin…and thus freedom from sin's bondages of fear, shame, and guilt.  It is a whole different agenda. 

It could be said that freedom for some in this world is no restraint, no limits, no boundaries, and thus 'freedom' to do whatever you want and make whatever choices you want.

But God's Word's sense of freedom is not freedom to do whatever we want, but freedom to be who we should be - it is not a 'me first' mentality, it is a 'God first' mentality. It is the freedom of not being in bondage to Satan and the lies he tells us, but freedom in knowing the truth and thus having both the courage and power in Christ to live differently, and not captive to the world, flesh and the devil.

However, depending on our cultural backgrounds, we will have some assumptions about what we think freedom is and what losing freedom means which will need to be discarded or re-calibrated.

There are all kinds of 'freedoms' we take for granted in our cultures. 

When the American constitution was constructed it was with the thought that people could now live 'free' of a monarchy.  

Prisoners look forward to when their sentence ends and they can walk freely in society again. 

Kids leave home at age 18 thinking they will be 'free' of their parents. 

People here once they are married are then 'free' to participate in the cultural kgotla leadership meetings. 

People change jobs to be 'free' of oppressive work hours or an abusive boss. 

Others long to be 'free' of debt. 

In other words we want to be 'rid' of what we think inhibits us or restricts us from doing what we want to do.

But how much of what we think is freedom in this world, is freedom to fight for, or even freedom at all? What one might find 'oppressive' and 'restrictive', others find peaceful and liberating. And…..What we think is freedom in our culture, might not be the freedom that God says we should seek.

When God speaks of being set 'free', it doesn't mean commands/laws go out the window. Jesus didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. He came not to eliminate our need to live according to God's will and standards, but to enable us to live according to God's will and standards. And God's will and standards still means there are boundaries of what is right and wrong, good and bad in attitude and action. But our freedom is not firstly about us, but is firstly about the ability to glorify God and secondly to be able to shine his light and love to others.

Freedom to love God and love others

Galations 5:13

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Similar to 1 Peter, Paul is saying to the Galations that the right kind of freedom is important, but how we view it and use it is also important. 

Thus, what and how we advocate and promote as freedom in this world and beyond it, should be focused not on 'our rights' but for 'others good' and 'God's glory'. As I think on these things knowing that this world is an imperfect shadow of the perfect that is to come, I wonder if the freedom to at least strive for and promote in our communities in whatever measure we are able, could be defined as:

- the freedom to live in God-honouring ways in our lives, make choices according to conscience (Rom 14:23, 1 Cor 8:8-12), taking responsible thoughtful care and stewardship of this earth and all that is in it -including our families and our own bodies (Genesis1:26-28; 1 Cor 6:19), as we love God and others (Mark 12:30-31) in truth (Eph 4:15) so as to be, 'in Christ', the human beings God created us to be.

AND thus also desiring...

- the freedom to bring the good news of Freedom from sin - freedom from its penalty now, freedom from its power as we learn to more and more submit to Christ, and freedom from its presence in the future 'not yet' Kingdom

….because it is only through this that we and others can know the power of Freedom from fear (of others, of the future, of the unknown, of threats) and lies (about self-esteem, self-love, false hopes, false solutions) that causes us to be in bondage to our own self-oriented desires, captive to this world's perspectives and beliefs, and gullible to the deceit of the Father of Lies—Satan himself.

- the freedom of all of Christ's church to gather regardless of any requirement except that we are Christ's.

We need to be making the most of the freedoms we do have so as to be the light that awakens a world in darkness. As already stated…the challenge to us all (as I preach to myself too!) is are we making the most of the freedoms we have to share Christ and alert others to eternity and a coming calamity far greater than COVID or anything this world will experience? 

Are we sharing the good news of a freedom greater than anything the world can offer - a freedom in Christ of mind and spirit despite the circumstances of our world?

Future Freedom

We also need to realise that while we should strive with all our might and effort to stand for and exemplify what enables God's creation to flourish for his glory in this world and promotes the freedom to do so, full freedom to peaceably live godly trouble-free lives in this sin-sick world is not part of God's promises to us on this earth. In fact we are promised just the opposite - that all who desire to live godly lives will be persecuted (2 Tim 3:12).We will have bad governments at times (that will make it more difficult to engage in these freedoms), we will have sickness/pandemics at times (that may temporarily prevent the saints gathering for a time), we have our own sinful hearts (that hold us back in fear, selfishness, people-pleasing, exaggerating, gullibility etc).

But in the midst of this we can take every opportunity to promote God's truth and make every effort to ensure we are not part of restricting God's truth bringing his freedom to hearts and lives. We will never turn this earth into Utopia or into heaven. As Christians we have been given the Scriptural 'heads up' that this world is not slowly evolving into perfection, but devolving into destruction. Our full freedom is yet 'future'.

But as citizens of heaven, we can rest in an eternal freedom that is already guaranteed for us in Christ, while living—as 1 Peter reminds us—as aliens and foreigners and ambassadors in this world. While we promote what enables Godly freedoms, we are also not to despair when those freedoms are less present…(pray more, yes, but not panic more!). And when they are taken away and limits on freedoms of activity are imposed, we can remember and be comforted and encouraged that no human or government can take from us or separate from us the freedom and peace of heart and soul in Christ (Romans 8:28).

So….

We need to carefully think about whether or not the freedoms we seek or fear to lose are in the category of truly godly freedoms or in the categories of personal-desire freedoms and culturally-accepted freedoms. 

Sometimes we will have to forgo desired freedoms even if they are good, while at other times we will need to fight for proper freedoms. We need to identify well and fight strategically. Most of all we must never forget we do not fight against the 'flesh and blood' of human beings or this world's systems, we are in a spiritual battle for souls (Ephesians 6:12). Ultimately Satan wants to divert and distract us from the main battle. Let's not be diverted or distracted.

We must never forget though that God is still God whether we can enjoy many earthly freedoms or few. 

That's not easy to say, as my heart would love to enjoy freedoms rather than lose them, just as I would 'prefer' in a human sense to be 'free' to walk around the neighbourhood, or stand and chat to neighbours, or go browsing at the shops for a day, rather than be 'limited' by my physical and medical condition. But I have also learnt that sometimes we learn more of God and enjoy more of the fruit of His Spirit in our lives when we are resting more in him than in the apparent 'peace' and 'freedoms' of this world. 

We don't know all the details of what the future on this earth holds, but God is sufficient. His promises of faithfulness do not change just because the freedoms we are accustomed to undergo change. 

Whether 'cancel culture' increases or 'pandemic' fear and frenzy perpetuates, whether governments make good decisions or bad, God is still God. He will never leave or forsake us, and his call on we who have already been set free, is to continue to bring eternal hope to this world and teach his eternal freedom-bringing truth to others as we lovingly make disciples of all ethnicities.

Lets 'fight' for freedom….but lets also be sure to be fighting for the right freedom in the right ways.

Here's another thought….have you ever wondered why we fight for freedom, and how the most fundamental concept of freedom underlies all freedom fighting even when its mis-placed and culturally clothed?…So what is that most fundamental 'freedom' we seek and for which the gospel is the answer and good news?…..check out the final blogpost in this series coming soon...

Fighting for Freedom - A Cross-cultural look: Part 3

In Part 1, Part 2 I raised the issue that with this hot topic of 'Freedom' in this second decade of the 21st Century, our cultural contexts can subtly influence how we perceive freedom to be defined and experienced, but that we also need to ensure we have God's perspective and not just cultural perspectives, directing our opinions and actions. And a great way to look at God's perspective could be through some thoughts (indented below) penned by a friend*, who was pondering on this recently from the book of Numbers and 1 Peter.

The book of Numbers describes Israel as they travelled from Mount Sinai to the threshold of entering the Promised Land.  Even though they didn't yet have their own land, Israel had a highly developed government.  In effect, it was a state on the move.  As I read through Numbers, I noticed that it was a highly intrusive government that interfered greatly in what we today would call personal freedoms and liberties.  For example:

Censuses.  There were two censuses, which recorded names and genealogy (Num 1:18, 26:2).
Conscription.  There was compulsory military service for all adult males (except Levites) (Num 1:20).
Told where to live.  While they were on the move, everyone was told what part of the camp they had to live in (Num 2:2).  Once they got to the land of Israel, everyone had to live in the area allotted to their tribe (Num 33:54).  In other words, if your tribe got allotted land in the mountains, but you preferred to live by the sea, too bad.  Or vice versa.
No choice in what job you did.  The people in one tribe (the Levites) were told what their occupation was to be.  Different family groups within that tribe were given different jobs to do.  There was no choice in the matter (Num 4:1-33).
Sick people quarantined.  People with certain sicknesses were to be quarantined away from the camp and other people while they were sick.  This was not optional but was compulsory (Num 5:1-4).
Told what to eat.  Food was provided.  However, there was only one type of food, and you were not allowed to complain about it (Num 11).
Told who you could or could not marry.  Women who inherited land could only marry a man from their own tribe (Num 36:8).
No complaining about the rules or the conditions.  Complaining about these things usually led to sickness or death (Num 11, 21:4-6)
No elections.  If you didn't like the leadership and thought you could [do] a better job, you either got really sick (Num 12) or were killed (Num 16).

As I noticed this, I realised how controlling and invasive this ancient Israelite government was in the life of its citizens.  However, this was the Old Testament, and this was a theocratic government, which God ruled directly through Moses.  Our governments today aren't directly ruled by God, so surely we should have more freedom?  Well, what does the New Testament book of 1 Peter say?  Peter lived under the Roman government.  At that time, the Roman Empire was a pagan government, which sometimes promoted and at other times forced the worship of false gods.  It was a government that sometimes barely tolerated Christians and at other times persecuted them.  Roman society was sexually immorally, where bisexuality was the norm.  It was common practice and legal for parents to discard unwanted babies, either to die, or to be brought up as slaves.  It was a society based on slavery, in which it is estimated that approximately half the population were slaves.  This system was enforced by law.  For all the faults of the Australian and Tasmanian governments, they don't seem to be nearly as bad as the Roman government.  Yet, this is what Peter had to say about submitting to the ungodly Roman government:

1 Peter 2:13 Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority 14 or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. 15 For it is God's will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. 16 Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God's slaves. 17 Honour everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honour the emperor. 

And then Paul tells in Romans tells us that: Romans 13:1 Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God.  

Wow!  Are there any exceptions to this?  Peter gives no exceptions in his letter, however he and John...did give an exception earlier on in his ministry:

Acts 4:19 Peter and John answered them, "Whether it's right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide; 20 for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."

He went on to acknowledge that this is a real challenge when Scripture is saying to submit to sinful governments even when we don't like it, or agree with it, and see it as 'over-controlling and invasive' and as he said...

….maybe even if it's against my conscience (because my conscience is the product of my culture, upbringing, my sinful nature as well as what God has put there).  The only exception is if it is something that is directly against God's law - not what we feel or think is against God's law, but what is actually against God's law as found in the Bible.   And even then, if I feel compelled to disobey the government because they want me to do something against God's law, I still need to do it respectfully, honouring the emperor - or in my case, honouring the prime minister and my state premier, whether or not I voted for them.

He went on further to give some personal experience insight…..

Many years ago I learnt a lesson about submitting to government from people who live under oppressive governments…. [I ] have travelled to many countries and lived in several ..[and] have met many believers who live under governments that are controlling and invasive and are often hostile to the faith….[my wife] even grew up in one such system.  I have been amazed at the attitude of believers who live in those countries.  Most of them take 1 Peter 2:13-17 and Romans 13:1-6 very seriously.  Yes, when there is an issue that directly contradicts God's word, they will disobey.  But apart from those few occasions, they go out of their way to obey the government wherever possible.  They even pray for their leaders in their church services!  What an example they ought to be to us.

This is a time of great uncertainty.  This is a time when many people, including Christians, will have different viewpoints on what governments should or shouldn't be doing.  But I pray that our attitude can be like those Christians I've met in oppressive countries.  Let us go out of the way to obey the government, ...showing an example to the rest of society that we are people that a) obey the authorities b) work together for public good to contain this virus and c) show a pro-life attitude, in doing what we can in preventing the sickness and death this virus can bring.

At a time of what might feel as more restricted freedoms, rather than just being something to resist maybe they can be something as Christians we can reflect differently on, and seek to see how God would have us use the opportunity of such concerns, being aware of a greater context, for example that….

…..in the Bible, epidemics (plagues), war and famine are quite often God's judgement on people for their sins, and in a sense, are a warning of a much harsher judgement that is coming unless people repent of their sin.  Epidemics, war and famine are linked: one of them leads to the others.  We can see that with Covid.  Covid has led to recessions (famine), increased global political tensions as well as growing unrest in our own country.  Who knows what the future will bring?  These difficult times ought to be a wake-up call for the world to turn from its godless ways, and turn to Jesus.

…..the Christian response to Covid is the proclamation of the Gospel - the good news of Jesus Christ, who offers the only lasting hope to a world that has been experiencing the ebbs and flows of war, famine and disease, as well as various forms of good and bad government, ever since the fall of Adam and Eve so long ago.  

While a longing to live our lives with particular freedoms may not be wrong, and advocating and supporting the maintenance of freedoms not just for ourselves but for others may not be wrong, there is a greater context of freedom to bring to other's lives that we must not forget nor neglect, and sometimes God may want us to live with more restrictions of freedoms on this earth and in a way that glorifies him, in order to have greater opportunities to bring the good news of a far more important spiritual freedom to ears who don't even realise they are in spiritual bondage.

In our desire for freedom, I find a biblical challenge not just to be restriction resisters or earthly freedom fighters, but above all to be 'salt and light' eternal freedom proclaimers through the One who is the eternal freedom bringer!

*thanks to Thomas Hemphill for allowing us to share this on our blog...

Fighting for Freedom - A Cross-cultural look: Part 2

Continuing on from Part 1, as we consider the varied ways our world understands 'freedom', lets look at comparisons within the following categories:

The individual and the collective

An individualistic society focuses on the good of the individual above the good of the group or society at large

The collective society focuses on the good of the group and thus the good of the individual within the group.

Each emphasises freedom for their priority and are willing to sacrifice 'freedom' on the side of what is not the priority.

Both can be abused. Too much focus on the individual at the expense of others is plain selfishness, while too much focus on the group at the expense of the individual can become people-pleasing and conforming for the sake of acceptance.

*But God says both the individual and the group are important - the church is described as 'one body' with 'many members'. While God knows each of us individually by name, Scripture is full of demonstrating and commanding self-denial and love for others

Rights and respect

An individualistic society is more concerned about personal rights, and a collectivistic society is more concerned about respect for others.

It's hard to find Scripture which talks about individual 'rights' for ourselves, but rather it speaks about denying ourselves. In fact 'rights' should be more about ensuring the good or 'rights' of others than demanding what we think is good for ourselves. Rather than 'my rights', as Christians we should be more interested in 'loving you'.

'But its my right to….' we cry. But are such things 'our rights'? We can become people who demand and defend our rights rather than humbly being thankful for the privileges and blessings we have and seeking how to treat others with love and respect.

In a society that emphasises freedom of personal 'rights' there is no freedom to do anything that might seem to violate someone's idea of their personal 'rights'. In a community that demands respect for elders, there is no freedom to publicly disagree with elders as it is seen as dishonouring/shaming them.

*Often we can demand from others what we should be seeking in God, or we are demanding from this temporal sin-sick world what will only be realised in the eternal glory-filled new heavens and earth.

Trust and Suspicion

The cultural context we come from will affect what we are used to as our normal 'boundaries', and thus our normal 'freedoms'. We are naturally likely to be trusting of those in leadership who help maintain the 'freedoms' and 'boundaries' we are familiar with and approve of, and be suspicious of those who don't. 

Whether we are a child whose parent introduces a new rule or an adult whose government or workplace introduce a new rule, we are tempted to rebel against (or at least dislike) those restrictions and any enforcement of those restrictions. 

In the West particularly, there is a large portion of society who are suspicious of anything that gives government more power, or infringes on any individual personal desires to keep living a certain way. Sadly as Westerners increasingly grow up in single parent families, they are not even seeing a husband and wife letting go of personal 'freedoms' for the good of the other spouse, and kids are growing up with fewer if any siblings by which to learn the realities of having to forgo one's own personal individual desires for the good of others and the family as a whole. This only enforces the learnt but problematic 'norm' that it is 'good' and 'right' to do what I want, how I want, when I want for my good.

Here in my part of the world, despite some level of problems arising from times of unquestioned loyalty to society elders and leaders, there is a sense of harmony and 'freedom' that can arise when people aren't angry, arguing, debating, disagreeing and insisting on their 'rights' all the time. Those who can build harmony are seen as positive for society. Again, squashing alternative opinions has its own set of problems, but seeking to live in a context that avoids quarrels, and strives for unity and peace has its benefits too... (and its worth considering that Christ's church is meant to be a place that both seeks unity in Christ, avoids unecessary quarrels and disputes, while also seeking truth and being willing to confront error).

What we are used to as normal and comfortable we then learn to trust, and we are naturally suspicious of what differs from that.  What we trust is based on what we have learnt over multiple experiences is trustworthy and consistent/unchanging. What we don't have experience of we are normally more reticent to trust. I remember the first time we took our bookshop staff from here to Johannesburg and one of them needed to go on an escalator for the first time and was both highly suspicious of its safety and terrified. At that moment while we all felt extra 'free' to have an escalator instead of stairs, she felt like she was trapped into having to do something she did not want to do. Those who had experienced such a 'moving staircase' before were not as fearful, and we who had grown up with such inventions just walked straight on without a thought. It wasn't till we got to the bottom that we realised one staff member was not there with us and was still on the floor above us!  But as she watched us all get on it multiple times and saw it working and we showed her how to get on and off, she took the plunge. A couple of days later after increased experience with it she was far less hesitant.

*Ultimately as Christians, the one whom we should trust is God alone. He is the only one who will always do right, do good, and speak truth. We need to seek to be trustworthy (faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit - since God is always faithful), but we also need to seek to more and more trust God above man. 

We also need to be more properly suspicious of what we hear, in such a way that we 'test' all things against God's truth, whether we are comfortable with it culturally or not. 

We need to weigh up what we hear whether in personal discussions or media feeds and evaluate both sides of arguments and stories, and analyse news reports (Ephesians 5:10). We need to get and grow in knowledge and not just rely on second-hand information, and we need to constantly weigh up that knowledge. The first knowledge on a topic is often from people we are likely to agree with but it is useful to hear arguments from people who disagree also (Proverbs 18:17). We don't know everything and we need to also be suspicious of our own conclusions and be willing to adjust those conclusions, humbly be willing to be proved wrong, and humbly seek to expand our knowledge so as to discern truth and live in truth.

Rules and Relationship

Because we can often feel 'free' when we are in familiar environments (after all isn't it usually good to be 'home' where we think we can be 'free' to relax), we associate 'freedom' with the level of rules and the expectations of relationships we are familiar with.

When those dynamics shift or change, we feel inhibited or restricted. We don't like new rules and we don't like new constraints of relationships. I guess one of the most significant 'relationship' changes we can relate to is when a person gets married, lots of 'freedoms' are lost, but new ones are gained too. 

For some societies a man's freedom in marriage still means having other women on the side. Other's consider it a elder's freedom to demand sex from a junior relative anytime they want. Others say sex is for marriage and marriage is exclusively between one natural man and a natural woman as long as they both shall live. The first says its freedom, the second says its freedom and these would call the third highly restrictive. 

Yet the third would say it is freedom because you never have to fear being tossed over or divorced for another, nor do you have to fear sexually transmitted diseases. The third way which reflects God's way, may seem highly restrictive and limiting 'freedoms'.

*So if God's view of 'freedom' so easily can be defined on a human level as a 'restriction of freedom', we need to think carefully about what freedoms we pursue and what things we label as restrictions of freedom. We humans are apt to get the meanings mixed up if we rely on cultural definitions and divert from God's definitions. The even greater problem is when we think our definitions are God's definitions when all along they are just cultural definitions.

Evolution and Creation

Believe it or not, this relates to cultural worldviews - at this stage in history the West predominently believes God did not create the world or us, rather we evolved by chance - by accidental changes and an environment we are somehow able to manipulate/control as the 'highest evolved' beings and are responsible for preserving to enable a forever existing planet. This impacts all kinds of cultural decisions and perspectives. It removes proper acknowledgement of God's sovereignty, his purposeful creation and sustaining of his creation, and his eternal plans for mankind and thus how this world will end and if there is life after death.  However, many other places in the world like here in Africa not only have a high population who are either Muslim or Christian and thus recognising to some degree the supreme power and control of God over creation, but even in traditional religion there is an acknowledgement of God as Creator and ultimate Power.  It is true that some understandings of God are not built on biblical truth and thus mis-placed and in error, but the foundational acknowledgement of God is there.

Thus there develops a view about what are inherent human freedoms - one group chooses according to an acknowledgement that God has higher authority and knowledge and thus he determines what our freedoms should be, and the other chooses solely on the basis of limited human understanding and the knowledge of those particular humans a person is willing to listen to or is exposed to.

*However, I am reminded that since God is the Sovereign Creator and is sustaining his creation according to his eternal plans, the Christian is called to define, defend and promote freedom according to the truth of God's purposes and design, while also viewing this world as temporary and in sin-ridden decline toward eternal judgement. We are not responsible for preserving the world, rather we are responsible to correctly steward the creation for God's glory and praise and for the salvation of men and women, as we await a new heaven and new earth.

Ascribed and Achieved Honour

You might wonder what this has to do with freedom. But how we view freedom at least partly comes from how we gain (and therefore expect to be able to receive) honour. If we primarily see honour as something gained via birth and position, we will want to protect that, and if we gain honour primarily via achievement we will want to protect what we will see as a 'right' to achieve. Thus one particular ethnicity or gender in an achieved honour based context will want the freedom of equal 'rights' to do whatever it takes to 'achieve' any honours available in society. However, in a more ascribed honour context someone will want the 'right' to have their relationships, position, inheritance, or title, or privilege associated with it, protected. While all societies are a mixture of both to some degree, some will lean more on one aspect than the other.

We need to not see these things as only points of conflict but recognise that one may find withdrawal of freedoms in some aspects more impacting than others. 

*But as Christians, we do not have to look to the world's ascribed or achieved honour in order to know honour. In Christ we have been gifted both his ascribed honour (we share as joint-heirs in his inheritance and his name), and his achieved honour (our sins are counted in what he did for us on the cross - his death achieved our righteous standing and paid our sin-debt, removed our guilt and covered our shame). If we rest in that, we don't have to fear any threats or challenges or risks to any positional or achieved honour on this earth. Often we may not realise how much these two impact our desire to hang on to benefits and aspects of this world, but they are issues we may need to take time to examine.

In thinking about these categories, we beg the question…so how should we respond?  

The next posts in this series will look at this a little further, but before we go there, I think it will be helpful in Part 3 to share some thoughts I recently received from a friend who was thinking through some of the issues of freedoms and restrictions in 2021 in the light of 2 passages of Scripture - one Old Testament in the book of Numbers, and also 1 Peter in the New Testament.

Fighting for Freedom - A Cross-cultural look: Part 1

Photo credit-Palmer Moye

In the last couple of years, we have heard a great deal about fighting for 'freedom of speech' and the 'freedom of choice' and the right to be a 'free society'

….and what with 'cancel culture'  and the COVID-19 pandemic, we have many good reasons to feel we are losing some 'freedoms'. 

As I have pondered on this topic of 'Freedom', I realise it is one of those things we take for granted until it is taken away. It is also something we make assumptions about as to its meaning, until it is changed!

Furthermore, different people have different perspectives on what constitutes 'freedom'. For example I have noted various perspectives saying Queensland's building of a rural residential quarantine centre near Toowoomba is evidence of major 'gulag' type threats to citizen's freedoms, while at the same time the Queensland Premier is saying the reason she wants to keep the Queensland borders closed and other temporary restrictions from time to time is because she is fighting to maintain Queensland's present freedoms of movement and life within the state, in contrast she says of New South Wales where those freedoms have been massively curtailed.

So this 'freedom' issue is more complicated than we might first think.

Maybe before we try to discuss it or defend it we have to take one step back and actually define it.

In addition as Christians to desire God's definitions on all matters of life, as a 'westerner' coming from a very individual-rights based society, but living cross-culturally in a collective-respect focused society, I have been caused to realise that perspectives on 'freedom' can be differently understood or assumed in relation to a person's cultural 'norms', and these can then influence even what we think is 'right' and thus what we think is 'godly' or not. It has also caused me to examine various global situations with more varied perspectives, and propelled me to delve more deeply into God's Word to see where cultural views need to be Scripturally re-calibrated.

Before I go further, I am going to put out a warning that what I am about to say in this series of posts might not be altogether comfortable. 

But I hope it stirs our thinking ...in godly ways rather than cultural ways, to examine the world we live in and how we should or should not respond according to God's view of the concept of freedom.

 I'm also going to say that a significant portion of the ongoing pandemic restrictions on the normal freedoms in our societies (I am thinking particularly of Australia), seems to stem from fear, which is a whole separate (but linked) subject. It's easy to fear removal of freedoms because its taking us into the unknown, but it can also be easier to accept removal of freedoms when we are in fear, and whether governments or citizens, we can also put undue expectation on others and make unreasonable decisions when we are in fear. But let us remember that God is bigger than our fears.

I also want to say I can't address everything related to this issue in a blogpost and this series of posts do not propose to be exhaustive.

Created for 'freedom'

Before looking at the situation in our 21st century world, I am reminded that everything that God talks about regarding sin and salvation in Scripture revolves around the concept that sin is about bondage and salvation is about freedom, and lies are about bondage and slavery, and truth is about freedom - 'you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free' (John 8:32). God desires that we live in freedom…but freedom as he defines freedom, and not necessarily as our culture or tradition or assumptions define freedom. 

When we talk about 'freedom' I believe we are often in this day and age not all talking the same language when we use the word. Because we are wanting something we don't all define the same way, its not only causing confusion and conflict but it might be inhibiting our conversation about true Godly freedom, and thus opportunities to bring a gospel that is about true freedom.

So hopefully in an attempt to begin to unpack the concept and bring some clarity to our understanding, conversation and gospel sharing, I want to look both at cultural assumptions surrounding freedom in our world, and then some thoughts on how a Godly perspective on freedom could be formed….

Looking at our world... 

Our world is one of many cultural 'norms'

I hear it said that we have/had 'freedom' in the Western world in contrast to some other parts of the world - we believe its our right to live a certain way. But when we stop to think this issue through, we have to admit that the freedom talked about is not actually total freedom at all. There ares still laws, rules, standards and restrictions. We cannot do whatever we want with no-one telling us what to do.  

The reality is more about the fact that we are used to certain 'freedoms' and certain 'restrictions' and we accept them as normal, having grown up with them and learning to live within them. 

The Western world lives within many restrictions already. For example:

• Restrictions of movement (some places you can be fined for jay-walking, we have a certain side of the road on which we drive, we have speed limits, bike lanes, 'no-entry' signs on certain roads or properties, minimum age entry limits to some establishments and hours of operation of certain businesses may be restricted), 

• restrictions of speech (you can be sued for liable or defamation, and certain expletive words are not to be said in the media), and movies have ratings and restrictions as to who should watch them.

• cigarettes and alcohol are not allowed to be sold to people under a certain age

• health-requirement restrictions within a country (Even in Australia I had to show proof of all required vaccinations before I began any practical nursing in hospitals and my husband had to do similarly in his hospitality job at a conference centre - although they were well-established vaccines well beyond any clinical trial period), and to travel to a country (almost 20 years ago our Motswana daughter had to have a TB test before entering Australia as a foreign student, and when it came back positive she had to undergo treatment so as to produce a negative test whether she liked it or not, or she would not be able to enter Australia, and there are times within our region here that you can't cross borders without a Yellow Fever vaccination).

Living cross-culturally, I have also learnt that when different cultures have different rules and customs, and thus different 'freedoms', these may feel different or uncomfortable, but they aren't necessarily 'wrong', they might be just 'different'. 

Here are a few examples:

• Just recently there was a notice put up on our local social media, to remind women that to enter a Kgotla area (village leaders meeting area) here in Botswana they must be wearing a skirt not trousers. Now is it an infringement of my 'rights' as a female human being to be required to be in such a mode of dress? It may feel like it to some people, but the Kgotla has the authority to do that. 

• What about the fact that here schools are 'free' to transport multitudes of students on excursions or even to and from boarding school at the start and end of school terms, on the back of big open trucks (lorries if you are from the UK), while in Australia there would be restrictions that would not allow that (and probably not allowed in the USA or UK either)..

• Or what about the fact that here people are free to hang their washing over the fence or on an outdoor clothes line to dry, and in Australia it is normal practice  to hang your clothes on a clothes-line in the back yard to dry if you have a yard to do so. Yet in many places in the 'free country' of the USA it is prohibited to hang your washing on an outdoor clothesline and in other places it is even prohibited to have a fence around your yard.

• Here you can ride a bicycle without a helmet, or ride in the open back of a bakkie/ute as it zooms along a highway, but in Australia it's illegal

• Sometimes the concept of freedom overlaps with privacy. So this makes us think about how here in Botswana all the time we have lived here, in order to enter any government building you have to 'sign in' (put your name, date, address, ID, time of arrival and departure in a great big book at the entry). Some westerners find that an intrusion on their freedom to not have the government know too much about them.

• And yet, if someone from here went to Australia, they would be shocked that the Australian telephone 'books' list a person's residential address for everyone to see and know, because here in Botswana all 'addresses' in the telephone books are PO Boxes (since there is basically no mail delivery to street addresses). Having everyone's residential address may be seen as intrusion to their privacy and violation of the freedom to choose who knows where you live.

This 'freedom' word is not as simple or straight-forward as we might think it is if we just look at it from our own cultural perspective.

So in Part 2 coming up, lets maybe consider a little about what influences some of the different ways we as human beings think about freedom.

Does God want our obedience, or respect, or both?

Question 1.

Does God want your

a) Obedience

b) Respect

c) Both of the above

(circle the correct answer)

'God doesn't want your respect, he wants your obedience' - so said the preacher.

And...No I don't agree with that statement, but let me give you some background to the statement and maybe what could have been said instead and why I want to bring your attention to it.

The sermon was a great sermon, by a prominent and great preacher. He was speaking about Uzzah in the Old Testament - you remember?…the guy in 2 Samuel 6:6-7 who thought he was helping protect the Lord's 'Ark of the Covenant' when it looked like it was going to fall after the oxen who were carrying it, stumbled. He put out his hand to stop it falling, and in doing so he touched the Ark - which was forbidden.

The preacher, helpfully explained that all Uzzah was doing was wanting to show some respect to the Lord's Ark.

The preacher went on to say but 'God doesn't want your respect, he wants your obedience'. 

Let's think about this for a moment, in a few ways.

1. Lets think about whether honour and obedience should be contrasted as the antithisis of each other or the opponents/threats of each other. 

God definitely does want your obedience, BUT is obedience to God the only thing that God wants, in contrast to not wanting your respect?

Respect is another word for honour, so does God really not want you to give him honour?

Romans 1:21 tells us that God definitely wants us to honour him, and in fact the big problem in our world, says God through the Apostle Paul in this verse, is that God is not honoured. And not just that, but that God is not honoured as God. In other words, not only does God want honour, he wants a unique, highest, supreme honour in our lives. He requires the greatest honour of all.

So what is going on here, in the preacher's comment?

I wonder whether sectors of the Western church are so 'reacting' against those who wish to point out that more attention needs to be put towards the 'honour' aspects of Scripture, when so much is usually put to concepts of guilt, law and obedience, that they are 'over-reacting' and inclined to not only lessen the importance of the place of 'honour', but even without realising it, 'demonize' it. 

Honour is made out to be an inferior quality to obedience, and thus if you settle for honour, you settle for less. Here in the story of Uzzah, the preacher implied that Uzzah in being concerned about 'respect' [honour] was concerned about the wrong thing, and it was so dangerous a concern that God struck him dead immediately! Honour is seen as the thief of the priority, the best, and the proper focus on obedience, as well as a reason for life to be removed from us.

But honour and obedience are not a dichotomy, and furthermore, not opponents. They are not in a battle for validity in God's eyes.  In fact as Romans 1 points out, honour of God is imperative.

2. Let's think about whether a fallen mis-placed concept of honour is clouding our vision as to the place of true properly-placed honour.

Is it wrong to honour God?  Romans tells us not. Not only is it definitely right to honour God, it is an unequivocal and imperative requirement.

But it is wrong to honour God with our own idea of what honouring God should look like, with no regard/respect [honour] of how God defines and demands honour of himself to be.

This is where we go wrong.

We can 'think' we are honouring God, we can tell ourselves we are 'doing right by God', but if the honour is not according to God's definition of 'right', then we will think we do right when in fact in God's eyes we do wrong.

This was Uzzah's problem. He had a noble intention, but it was according to his own understanding and not God's requirements. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to not rely on our own understanding but to acknowledge God (put his ideas and definitions above our own) in everything. Uzzah's noble motive was misplaced, not because it is wrong to honour, or wrong to honour God, or because God doesn't require honour, but because Uzzah didn't trust God. He didn't understand that to truly honour God is to obey God. We don't get to define what honouring God looks like, God does. And God tells us what honour looks like by giving us commands to obey. When we obey him, we honour him. When we disobey him, we dishonour him.

This story is not one about Uzzah opting for honour when he should have opted for obedience. This story is about Uzzah who did what was 'right' in his own eyes, in his own understanding, all the while thinking that his definition of honouring God would be automatically acceptable to God as honouring him. But it wasn't.  And still today, our own ideas about what honours God are not the standard God has for the definition of honouring him.

3. Emphasising honour is not the cause of the lack of obedience, rather a wrong and weak emphasis on honour for God, propels disobedience to God.

Our problem is not that we talk too much about honouring God, or that if we talk more about honouring God that people will think they can be less careful to obey God. No, our problem is that we talk too little about what right honour of God looks like and how God defines honour.  

We run into the problems when either as differing groups or differing individuals we define what we think exemplifies respect or honour or dignity, without reference to the One who not only created us but who also defined those concepts in the first place. Any residue of those concepts that we seek or think we attain are but weak, broken, unreliable and twisted images of the original intention of our Creator. When we seek after them, they will disappoint and when we use them as our standard of good and right, we  will find ourselves with empty hope in the present, and being condemned in judgement in the future eternity. 

 When we have a wrong view of what honour for God is, we will inevitably end up practicing a lifestyle of disobedience to God. We will make wrong choices, damaging choices, self-destructive choices, and others-harming choices.  When we don't have a high enough view of honouring God, we will not only be disinclined to obey God where he has laid down specific commands, but we will feel there is no particular application of holiness we are called to outside of those particular commands. Yet if God doesn't give a particular command or direction about something which we are meant to obey, there is always the overarching governing context of honouring God. 

We need to think beyond the Bible as being an instruction book which if it doesn't address something particular in a 'do this' or 'do not do this' manner we are free to do what we like. We need to also see God's word as showing us himself and his character--his honour—and what it therefore (descriptively and prescriptively) looks like to honour him, his way.