The 11th Commandment - Thou shall not eat breakfast cereal...

Do you ever feel like you do not measure up? That you are not holy enough? That you are not as good a chrisitan as your friends are? Or as good as the writers of the blogs/websites you read?

Here is another question...Is being a “good” christian even Biblical? I do not think it is. If someone were a good christian, then that means there would have to be such thing as a better christian. I think the Bible says that when we are born again, we are considered righteous in God's eyes because of the blood of Jesus that covers our sins. Can someone be more righteous? Again, not in God's eyes. Righteous is righteous, right? I do, however, believe that some christians can be more obedient than other christians, and that is a whole different story.

What does this have to do with breakfast cereal anyway? Hold on...I am getting there :-)

God made laws of which we should all abide – The 10 Commandments. We can never 100% obey them, or we would be sinless. And there is only one man I know of that did that! None the less, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can find the strength and desire to obey. On another note, we have a personal relationship with Christ, and He works in each individual life differently, which means our lives will look differently within obeying the Lord's commands.

Christians from all around come from different cultures; have different family dynamics; hold different jobs; were purposely created with different personalities, sizes, shapes, hair color, skin color, etc; possess different giftings; battle different health issues; and on and on and on.  Obviously our lives will not look the same. So why do we get so depressed and feel worthless as though we do not measure up to others? Satan's lies for sure and human nature, of course.

I admire people who eat all organic food, choose to not have cable TV, live off-grid, have family devotions twice a day, own a family business, have students who achieve off-the-chart academics, do not use birth control...insert other admirations you have here. And until recently, I thought those people were better christians than me. More holy. More righteous. More favored. Then I realized that those kinds of thoughts held me in bondage and made me envious, then bitter, then judgemental. And, boy...did I ever turn into an ugly, self-righteous individual!  For many years – and lost friends because of it.

God is freeing me from this line of thinking and showing me that I do not have the same make-up, same lifestyle, same life circumstances, or same heritage as others. And ya know what? It is okay. It really is!  So one day, about a month ago, I stocked up on some breakfast cereal at our local Amish discount store. My budget is tight. My mornings are busy. My children like it. (I cook good evening meals anyway :-) ) Guess what? I did not turn into a pillar of salt or get consumed with fire because I did not make some healthy, green smoothie for breakfast. It works for us. God knows our situation, and he knows yours. Do not let someone else's personal convictions become your chains. Cut yourself some slack. Relax. Live. Enjoy where God has you!