Dan Byl

(often mistaken for Chinese)

I love Christianese… “NOT.”(thank you Borat) I truly can’t stand it, you may have never heard this term before so I will quickly elaborate. Christianese is when Christians use “simple terms” in the context of Christianity, and if you are not a Christian you probably have no clue what they are talking about.

For example, the term saved, every Christian knows what this term means, but use it with a non Christian and they look at you, like, ” I need to be saved from what?” Or the term revelation, Christians use this term all the time, it is usually in the context of God having spoken something to them, I think we use it to make our selves sound as if we have really had something profound imparted in us.

Funny thing is, most of the time it is just common sense. I don’t mean to be overly cynical. Christianese is just language and phrases that really don’t make any sense to any one out side of the “Christian world”

The other day (any time in the last 8 months, this particular time being pre married) I was talking with a friend about my current relationship. We were discussing the idea of “knowing.” I knew it was where I wanted to be, but I was willing to give it up, if God asked me to.

Then the phrase, “holding on to it loosely” was used. When we value something we tend to hold on to it really tightly. The tighter we hold on to something the more God wants to take it from us. Not take it away, but he wants to be in charge.

So the other option is to “hold on to it loosely.” God has a plan for our lives and sometimes he asks us to give up things that are really important to us. He does this so that we can learn something he wants to teach us.

So if we hold on to something tightly, that would mean we don’t want to let it go, or wont let it go. We are usually looking for some sort of control over the situation. This often causes us to walk out side of Gods will for our lives. We end up missing out on something or getting our selves into situations that we don’t want to be in. So to “hold on to things loosely” means that we are willing to give them up if asked, it means that we are not seeking to control but are more willing to experience the situation for as long as God wants us to.

Here is my issue with this phrase. The idea of holding onto something I really truly value loosely seems rather careless, if you are holding something that is absolutely precious to you, are you going to be holding it loosely in your hands or are you going to make sure you don’t drop that thing? I look at my relationship with my wonderful lady, and if it is up to me I am going to hold on to that thing very tightly I am going to protect it with everything I’ve got.

I think there is a better option, one that seems to have disappeared with the emergence of this “holding on to things loosely” phrase. I know that if I hold on to things the chances are at some point I am going to drop the ball, (who dropped the ball? Oooh… I dropped the ball) so here is the other option just put it into Gods hands right of the bat. Don’t mess around; just give it up as soon as you get it. Now that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy it because believe me, I am fully enjoying being with my girl. But all the pressure is off, it’s not up to me to protect it, it’s not up to me to try and make it into something, I can let go of control. IT’S NOT UP TO ME.

I have given it to God and now, its up to him, and because it’s in his hands I have to listen to him, if I want to enjoy everything that He has to offer. I have to follow his instruction if I want to see or touch it. And if I don’t, he will just take it away.

So what I am saying here is this, quit holding on to things, let them go, drop them, don’t put your hands on them. Pass it off as soon as possible, especially if you really care about it. Give it to someone that can take care of it and won’t drop it, no matter what happens. And that person is God.

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