Non-negotiables

Guest Blogger: Isabell Bowling

Isabell is the daughter of Sarah Bowling and the granddaughter of Marilyn Hickey. She graduated from Oral Roberts University with her bachelors in Historical and Philosophical Theology and received the award for Theology Student of the Year upon graduation.

She is excited for what this next season brings and is looking forward to learning and growing under the tutelage of her mother and grandmother. In the future, she also hopes to continue her educational journey by seeking a graduate degree in Europe.

She will be presenting a message God put on her heart about the non-negotiables that come with a Christian lifestyle:

I’ve been around a lot of Christians. The nature of my life is that pretty much every single person who has impacted me significantly (positively or negatively) has been a Christian. I am a second-generation pastor’s kid, so I was raised in the church. My best friends are almost all fellow pastor’s kids and the “village” that helped to raise me are all church families. I’m giving you all this to say, I am acutely familiar with the way American Christians behave.

As Christians, there are certain stereotypes that we either try to avoid or live up to. As a pastor’s kid, I have always been very aware of the two pastor’s kid stereotypes, I call them the lion and the lamb. Either a pastor’s kid walks away from the faith and turns into a rebellious nightmare, or they are so sheltered and unaware of the world that they just sit quietly on the pews and never leave the church bubble. I am proud to say that I currently occupy neither of those roles, much to my relief:)

But, when it comes to the stereotypes of Christians, unfortunately we can come across as judgmental, argumentative, or inflexible. Think about Ned Flanders in The Simpsons or Mary Cooper (Sheldon’s mom) in The Big Bang Theory. However, lately, the other side of the pendulum has popped up as well, with Christians who are so afraid of the judgmental stereotype that they communicate the gospel of tolerance, more than the gospel of Jesus.

Essentially, no matter which side of the spectrum of stereotypes you think you fall on, or if you don’t think you are either, there is still a standard that we must live our lives under, that neither stereotype lives up to. As Christians, there are some things that are non-negotiables. In Matthew 7:18-20, Jesus tells His disciples: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.” It is important that we bear good fruit, because we must have Jesus as our tree. The easiest and most effective way to do this is to bear the Fruit of the Spirit.

It is simply not an option for a Christian to not live within the reality of the Fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are all choices. The very spiritual thing that I have often heard is, “You know what, I’m just in a season where God is helping me to grow in self-control.” Here’s the thing: all these attributes are best shown in our actions, either the consequences or the intentions. We have to shift our attitudes from, “maybe I can bear fruit if I try really hard” to “I am making a choice to live a fruit-filled life.”

When I was in therapy, we started out talking through my past and learning the “whys” for many of the self-destructive habits that I had. But, there was a time where my therapist said, “Isabell, at a certain point you just need suck it up and tell yourself to act different.” She was absolutely right. Sometimes, we get stuck in a trap of trying to understand the “why” behind the commands of God, instead of just obeying first. We want to know why God wants us to be joyful, we want a close study on godly joy, because we can become afraid of disobedient. But, when you make the choice to obey first, there is a freedom in submitting our actions and attitudes to God.

We must be kind. That’s simply a fact. Love and faithfulness are required. As a Christian, you have a choice. Every morning, you can get up and say, “Today I am really going to try my darndest, but if I’m cruel to someone, oh well!” Or, you can say “I am a child of the King, I can do all things through Christ, and today I will treat people well. I will have self-control and I will be joyful, because it’s not an option for me to behave otherwise.”

So today, ask God, “God what are my non-negotiables for today?” We are capable of living a life within the will of God, we simply need to make the choice to do so. I believe in you. You can do it!