THE RUTS

Christoph Blumhardt (1842-1919) wrote, “Brothers and sisters, break free from whatever ruts you have settled into! Whoever does not want to be set free – well, suit yourself – but don’t say you are living in Christ’s spirit. You can continue in the old ways and be a part of Christianity, but not of God’s kingdom. You can live in Christianity but not in Christ; the gulf between the two is great.”

Settling into ruts is easy because we are creatures of habit and ritual. We tend to do the same things the same way over and over again. This is true when it comes to religion for sure. As Bob Mumford said many years ago, “We think new and act old.”

It seems to me that if we do not get out of the ruts of cultural Christianity… the church as it is… the faith of the current generation… the ruts will take us into a determined extinction, or at least a continued impotency of irrelevance. Blumhardt’s counsel is to ’break free from what ever ruts you have settled into… ‘You can continue in the old ways and be a part of Christianity, but not of God’s Kingdom. You can live in Christianity, but not in Christ; the gulf between the two is great.’

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Jesus