We, humans, are obsessed with checklists. We have a checklist for our groceries, house cleaning, garage cleaning, car maintenance, daily schedule, books we want to read, bills we need to pay, places we would like to go, etc.
There is nothing wrong with checklists per se but I believe a legitimate and seriuos problem arises when we bring this "checklist mentality" into our spritual journeys. You see this idea of having a checklist for everything can easily seep into the way we live out our faith. We start seeing our faith as a checklist. We start marking our spiritual growth and our daily spiritual walks with checklists.
We may not write these things down as we do grocery lists but we have them in our heads nonetheless. We start using "checklist language" when we are talking about our spirituality. We say things like "I have to read my bible today" which is not a bad thing but what we are really saying is that I need to check off another box on my spiritual checklist. And over time we add boxes to our spiritual checklists. These boxes include, praying a certain amount of time a day or spending a certain amount of time doing this or going to a certain number of studies a week or reading a certain number of chapters in the Bible a day and so on. Ironically when we start treating our Christian faith like this, it starts to look a lot like every man-made religion in the world.
Man-made religions usually have one thing in common. Can you guess it? Thats right...they all have some sort of Checklist. Whether they call them commands or pillars or paths they are all in essence Checklists. This is the very thing Jesus came to change. He said get rid of your checklists and start checking your hearts. He said in essence its not about checking off a box on a list that makes you spritual, its about living your life, viewing the world and veiwing others the way He would if He were in your shoes.
So let's get rid of our "checklist spirituality" and lets live as redeemed people who are free to live a different kind of life. A life that is free from any man-made ideas including checklists. A life that is free to love others even when they mistreat you. A life that is free to give generously even if you are not rich. A life that is free to follow the Spirit's leading rather than a checklist.
