Add-Ons

You know what an add-on is. You buy a device and discover that in order to use it to its full potential, you have to buy another widget to use with it -- an add-on. Or maybe you don't need it. Maybe it would just be nice to have. Like a GPS unit that has an optional add-on of a traffic monitoring system. Nice to have. Or a car -- you know, to get you from Point A to Point B -- with a radio -- an add-on not necessary, but certainly making getting from Point A to Point B a little less tedious. You get the idea.

Have you ever noticed that it's not just in the commercial world that we find add-ons? Take something simple like friendships. A friendship is simply some connection with another human being. You may decide to add on, just as an example, a friendship between your spouse and your friend's spouse. Or you might not. You might go do things together -- you know, experiences, adventures, that sort of thing -- or your friendship might just be limited to conversations and shared interests or even locations. You may choose to stay in touch, or you may not. Add-ons.

You'll find it at church. "Yes, by all means, come to church! Oh, and if you're interested, you might want to add on an adult Sunday school class or maybe a small group Bible study. Hey, maybe you might want to add on some involvement with others, some ministry, some ... dare we say it ... discipleship? Oh, no, now we're meddling." Because, as we all know, "come to church" is the key component and all that other stuff is "add-on". Or ... is it?

Or how about marriage? What is necessary for marriage? Well, you have a man and a woman and, well, obviously, love. Throw in a little commitment (although, these days, likely not too much -- minding our weight, you know), and you have a recipe for a marriage. Now come the add-ons. Maybe you want kids; maybe not. Maybe you will have shared interests; maybe not. Maybe there will be sex; maybe not. Maybe you'll pray together; maybe not. Maybe you'll study the Word together; maybe not. Maybe, if you're really working this thing -- if you really want the deluxe version -- you just might make the biblical injunctions foundational to your marriage. Or ... maybe not. Add-ons.

It is my suspicion that there are some things that we view as add-ons that are, in fact, not merely options we might choose to include. In our upside-down world, I think it is probably likely that we are getting things turned around. We believe, for instance, that "church" is about attending a worship service and whether or not we get involved beyond that is optional. The Bible indicates that church is about stirring one another to love and good works and encouraging one another (Heb 10:23-25), about discipleship and "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt 28:19-20), about "building up the body of Christ" (Eph 4:11-14). Odd thing ... there seems to be nearly nothing about "attending a worship service" in all that. Maybe we've got the thing turned around. We think that marriage is love and commitment between two people and much else is purely optional. The Bible indicates that the wife's job is submitting to her husband as to the Lord (Eph 5:22-24) and the husband's job is loving his wife as Christ loved the Church and cleansing her "by the washing of water with the word" (Eph 5:25-33). Strange. "Two people loving each other" seems to be a moot point in all that. "The two shall become one flesh" is certainly there, but if that's where we stop, I don't think we got the point. I think it's entirely possible that we've got some of this stuff completely turned around. What we see as "add-ons" are actually biblical definitions and what we see as definitions are ... well ... changing continually. Now, I wonder who might be behind the process of changing God's definitions and instructions into something else? Hmmm.