Tied-In-Ness

This morning a line in a book captivated me. It said from the Latin, obligation means tied-in-ness. So many thoughts poured into my mind.

If I say I am a Christian or a Buddhist or a whatever, I then have an obligation to live and be a certain way. So, I say I am a Christian. If this is really true, I am obligated to live and be as Christ-like as is possible. My life is tied in to the life and teachings of Jesus, Jeshua ben Joseph.

I need to honestly evaluate where the ties are loose and focus on connecting fully. Am I forgiving? Do I love and accept all people? Am I judgmental? Do I strive to be aware of the Presence? Do I pray, meditate, contemplate daily? Does the Light of God in me shine brightly?

In humble honesty we can be led away from ego and tied in to God's life though the life and teaching of Jesus, as we know it. Sure we know a tiny fraction of the 33 or so years of Jesus. We realize what we do know was written decades later by people who didn't know him, who spoke a different language and had only word of mouth to go on. Still, what got through all that is a remarkable way to live, a model, inspirational, and if we should follow it, would transform us and the entire world.

It's been said that it is not that Christianity has been tried and failed, it has never fully been tried at all.

Let's explore our obligation to be what we say we are.