DCL

I recently discovered a popular blog called Stuff Christians Like...

http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/

Yes, the guy spelled it wrong in the domain name. It's pretty popular, with quite a few comments each post and far more readers than the average 3.1 that I have. Anyway, here's why I plug that blog:

Sometimes, all it takes is a fresh look at an old issue.

The gospel message hasn't changed, the mission hasn't changed, and the Bible hasn't changed, over the years. But we can update the delivery, we can explain and demonstrate the message in creative ways, and we can use new and clever analogies to get the point across.

Last Wednesday, the author posted on something called a DCL... a "Doesn't Count List". The DCL is basically a list of things a Christian may have that may not be God's will for our lives, but are insignificant enough that we trick ourselves into believing that they don't matter. For example, speeding. It's breaking the law, but everyone does it and (usually) gets away with it. You can convince yourself that it is so prevalent that it is no longer practical to obey the speed limit because you'll get rammed from behind.

It's a fresh look at the struggle we have with those "little" sins that we hope God misses when God blinks. We figure that God has priorities so much bigger than the things on our DCL.

But it's funny how our DCL... ah, I've really got to challenge myself and make this personal... MY DCL, updates over time. Certain song styles I listen to... what I watch on a movie screen... certain things I say just as long as I don't cuss out one of George Carlin's forbidden words... you get the picture.

But it is good analogy that clarifies how we might cut corners, spiritually speaking, to give slight gratification to our sinful natures. And the more you cut, the quicker things spiral out of control. What starts as an innocent flirt with someone I have no business dating or even associating with, can lead to all kinds of disaster, if you keep a dynamic DCL ready with pen always in hand.

There's all kinds of funny, Seinfeld-ian anecdotes that can fall under this topic. And we can laugh about them. But there's a serious side to this topic as well, regarding not only how our sin nature works, but also regarding the message of the gospel, and the author's post bring it out very well at the end.

We all like to make lists, and deal with the concrete. Paul had to address the Jews in several of his letters to convince them to lose the Law mentality and live under grace. We have to lose the lists. If following a "good" list saved us from the penalty of our sins, then God never would have had to send his Son to die a brutal death.

Sin is sin, it all separates us from God in some way, and God sacrificed His Son to close that gap. The cross means that He wants us closer to Him, so He is not going to miss anything that's on our DCL.

Great post, John. Thanks for lighting the match that will hopefully burn my list.