‘Get to’ – or ‘have to’?
Dear Friends,
I’ve heard many good things from Mark Driscoll in the last ten days, both at a church planting conference in Birmingham and also at the London Men’s Convention. He has a number of well-chiselled phrases to sum up his message. One of those is when he talks about something being a ‘get-to’ rather than a ‘have-to’. The first is a privilege, something you ‘get’ to do. He used the example of kissing your wife: it’s something you get to do as a husband, not something you have to do (hopefully!). The second is a duty, something you ‘have’ to do. If kissing your wife ever comes into that category, you know something’s gone wrong!
Musing on what he said, it occurred to me that the devil makes a habit of taking God’s get-to’s and turning them into have-to’s. We get to do what God says, and it seems to us like a burden. We get to read what he says in his word, and it feels like a chore. We get to speak to our maker and redeemer, our loving Father, and we can’t find time for it. We get to meet on a regular basis with others who love him and are loved by him, and we find other things to do instead. We get to speak to other people about his Son and what he’s done for us, and we’d rather die. He’s a clever one, the evil one. Sometimes (always!) we just have to call his bluff and name the lies for what they are.
Chris Hobbs.
Vicar.