Having grown up in church all my life, there are many things I used to think and believe that have changed over the years. If there was one thing I could go back twenty years ago and tell myself then, it would have to be something that involved my beliefs and interpretations. Although the one thing would be the matter of understanding my beliefs, it would be broken down into a few different areas.
The first thing I wish I had known sooner is the New Covenant didn’t start at Matthew Chapter One. I never thought about Jesus living his earthly life under the Law. The New Covenant didn’t start until His death and resurrection. When we start reading in Matthew, we are reading about the life of Christ here on earth, living under the Law. He came to fulfill the law because we were unable to do so in our own strength. We are saved and we live by grace, not by any good work we do.
I never truly thought about the fact that the Spirit of God lives within us. I always thought God was way up there in heaven, sitting on a huge throne looking down on us. I now realize God is within us. We don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to communicate with our Father. He is within us, just as Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you. We are not God, but we are one with Him, just as Jesus prayed in John 17. He is with us each and every second.
I always went along with the church being a building. I was told that we go to the Lord’s house to worship. I never thought about us being the Church, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Christ is building a church made without hands, a Church made up of His followers. We no longer have to wait until Sunday and go to a building to meet with God. The Spirit lives within us each and every day. We have fellowship with one another anytime two or three gather in His name. That can be in a living room, a restaurant, a pub or café, and it can be on any day, because every day is the day the Lord has made.
I used to look to the Bible as the word of God. I felt it was where we got all our information and all leading from God came through the Bible. Now I know the Bible is the written words that God inspired men to write. The true, perfect, powerful Word of God is Jesus. As John 1:1 says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Jesus in the one we worship and follow, not the Bible. We learn from the Bible, it is good to see how God provided a way for us to have access to Him. It is good to read how others acted and reacted and how God dealt with them. It is good to see the plan of salvation and the way of grace explained. Unfortunately, too many of us want to make the Bible part of the trinity and worship it. The Bible is not part of God. Jesus is the word. The Spirit of Christ guides us. Study the Bible, learn from it, but do not worship it and look to it as our guide when the Spirit is our guide.
The Christian life is an ongoing, daily learning process. Sometimes we get to thinking we can’t question what we’ve been taught over the years. The Holy Spirit lives within us and He is fresh and current, and is our teacher and guide. Our interpretations will change over time as He leads us into truth. It is not wrong to question. It is not a lack a faith to wonder and seek truth. In all honesty, if we aren’t changing, growing, questioning and learning, I would have to wonder if there wasn’t something wrong. I just wonder what it will be in twenty years that I will wish I knew now.
This article is part of the June 2014 Synchroblog – ‘If I could tell myself one thing’. http://synchroblog.wordpress.com/
Following is the list of other contributors this month:
- Justin Steckbauer – What Do You Wish You Knew 10 or 20 years ago?
- Mary – What I Wish I Would Have Known as a Newlywed
- Heather Wheat – As a Young Mother, I Wish I Had Known…
- Michelle – Ten Years of Wisdom
- Michelle – Twenty Years of Wisdom
- Wesley Rostoll – If I Could Speak to a Younger Version of Me
- Peggy – From Peggy … To Peggy
- Glenn Hager – The Reluctant Time Lord
- Carol Kuniholm – Life Lessons from Lydia
- Edwin Adrich – A Note to My Younger Self
- Paul Metler – A Note to my 20 Year Ago Self
- Liz Dyer – Dear Me
- Kathy Escobar – Never Say Never
- Jeremy Myers – A Letter to the “Me” of 15 Years Ago
- Kimberly Klein – Be Free, Be You
Done with Religion 
Thanks for the kind comment. I appreciate you reading my articles.
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I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but
your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later.
All the best
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Thank you Marya for commenting. I appreciate you reading my article. It is encouraging to see so many others who are going through the wilderness season and seeking God’s truth. I had always thought there must be only a few who are going through this, but I find more and more that there are many who feel the same way.
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[…] Michael Donahoe – What I Wish I had Known […]
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“Our interpretations will change over time as He leads us into truth.” Love that and am going through a wilderness season myself! Visiting via Faithful Bloggers community
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[…] Michael Donahoe – What I Wish I had Known […]
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Thanks Michelle. I appreciate you taking the time to read my article and make a reply. I was always afraid to question things, thinking my pastor / church was telling me the truth. Not that they were lying, but it was their interpretation. We need to be open to learn and change when God reveals new truths.
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[…] Michael Donahoe – What I Wish I had Known […]
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I, too, have often reflected on how my beliefs and understanding of God have changed over the years. I really like your last paragraph – the Christian journey is a process and it’s freeing to realize that the questioning is part of what keeps it alive and fresh.
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[…] Michael Donahoe – What I Wish I had Known […]
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Thanks Jeremy. I agree, if we could have known some of this way back when, but I guess it is necessary for us to learn and grow at the pace God sets for us. I have certainly made of lot of changes in my thinking in the last couple years. Like I mentioned, I wonder in another twenty years, what I’ll wish I knew now… lol
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Thanks Wesley. I appreciate your comment. It’s funny, I grew up always thinking of the Bible as the perfect word of God. I would never have thought of it the way I do now. It seems so clear that Jesus is the Word of God, the Bible is inspired words, but not what I used to think.
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Nice one! Especially the thoughts on the bible, I have come to a similar place over the last year or so.
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[…] Michael Donahoe – What I Wish I had Known […]
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Love the insight about Scripture. Like you, I wish I could go back and tell myself to relearn some things… and fast! It would have saved me a lot of grief over the past 20 years or so…
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[…] Michael Donahoe – What I Wish I had Known […]
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[…] Michael Donahoe – What I Wish I had Known […]
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Thanks so much for reading my article and for commenting. I appreciate it. You are right, it is amazing to think about Jesus living a sin-free life. Although He is God, I feel while on earth he was completely a man. His dependence on prayer and the Spirit are amazing. I will read the article you mentioned. I do believe we have the same opportunity to live in that dependence, although most of us don’t even come close to replying on Him that much. Thanks again for writing.
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Thank you John for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to read the article and to reply. It is like you said, we sometimes put the emphasis in the wrong place in our Christian life. Jesus takes the preeminence. I think you are right, the followers of Christ from a few hundred years ago would certainly have a problem meeting our requirements of today. Thanks again.
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Excellent package of discovery. Think of Jesus in His earth walk of 33 years, always choosing against sin, and relying entirely upon prayer and the anointing of the Holy Spirit in order to minister. Think seriously about Acts 10:38 and what it suggests about the believer’s opportunities in that anointing. See the label on fruit of the Spirit in http://momentsmidstream.blogspot.com/
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Great post brother, I was thinking yesterday about how we hear so often, particularly when evangelizing, that we need a personal relationship with Christ. That seems to fade so quickly, and we are then “weened onto the Word”. And it seems to me it should almost be in reverse. Yes reading and studying scripture are important, and incredibly helpful in our growth and discipleship. However, they must never take away from our personal and intimate love relationship with our Lord. And likewise, with His body and bride. These things seems to be pushed into a secondary position after our “salvation” experience. Reading the word, and attending regular “church” services (and of course following all the “new” laws we have to follow as christians) all take more preeminence.
Once again those who followed Christ in the first couple of hundred years would have probably failed miserably according to modern requirements of being a good christian. Thanks for sharing, very encouraging. JM.
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Sounds as if the Holy Spirit has taken hold of you! I’m glad to learn you’re done with religion! Excellent post!
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Excellent sharing my brother. Enjoy your freedom in Christ to the fullest!
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