How to become a ‘Renegade for God’

Renegades are also curious; they want to know "why?" And this curiosity starts early. If you doubt that, spend an afternoon walking in the park with a four-year-old. He will ask you a thousand questions without taking a breath, about everything he sees, touches, or smells. He will ask, "How do bees fly?" or "Why do humming birds hum?" or "How can brown seeds buried in black dirt produce a green watermelon with a red center?" If you dare to offer answers, he will counter with, "Why?" Why do we always have more questions than answers? It's because life is best lived as a quest-an adventure through uncharted territory, fraught with great peril, yet loaded with great reward. Renegades know that "why" questions, when asked openly and honestly, lead to truth, then to the reality, then to God, the one whose life and love makes us real. The goal we all have.

Allergic to all things religious
OK, here is where the Renegade Spirit is most misunderstood. While renegades run from religion, they're not necessarily running from God. For us, religion is like a refrigerator filled with three-month- old moldy pizza. It may fill your stomach, but it's probably going to make you sick. To a renegade, religion is about man-made do's and don'ts. Religion is finger-pointing preachers screaming, "Turn or burn and die and fry while we go to the sky." It's about someone's mythical opinion about how we can get the franchise on God. And we all know opinions are like noses; everybody's got one.

In an interview with a long-time friend, international superstar Bono, of the hit band U2 and professed Christian, made this astute observation, "Religion can be the enemy of God. It's often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship."

Renegades run from religion because they resist being named, revolt at being shamed, and rebel against being tamed. Stephen Brown said, "If we are only out to be nice, mild-mannered folk, we should either change our name or change our calling." We crave a bigger, better, bolder life than religion allows. My gut tells me I was meant for more than just being a nice guy and maybe that's why men are so noticeably absent from church. I don't want to be Pee-wee Herman or the Terminator, but I do want to be a man of love and honor. In his insightful book, Why Men Hate Going to Church, David Murrow observes:

Although males have not completely abandoned the church, tough, earthy, working guys rarely come to church. High achievers, alpha males, risk takers, and visionaries are in short supply. Fun-lovers and adventurers are also under-represented in church. These rough-and-tumble men don't fit in. Today's churchgoing man is humble, tidy, dutiful, and above all, nice. What a contrast to the men of the Bible! Think of Moses and Elijah, David and Daniel, Peter and Paul. They were lions not lambs-take charge men who risked everything in the service of God. They fought valiantly and spilled blood. They spoke their minds and stepped on the toes of religious people.

I crave the free, fun, fulfilling life my gut tells me I am destined to live. Like a stallion kicking against his cramped stall, renegades smother under the smallness of rule-based religion. It doesn't take a spiritual giant to see God is bigger than the Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic, or "__________" (fill in the blank) box. Surely He didn't create you and me, the crowning jewel of His creativity, to live little, safe, self-absorbed, cookie-cutter, humdrum lives.

Renegades are allergic to religious know-it-alls passing themselves off as God's anointed. This is a huge issue with me, because I grew up listening to preachers who were not real or nice once you got to know them. Real will be a core character quality of anyone who dares speak for God. When the messenger is disingenuous, we discount the message. Renegades are not contentious, but we retain the right to decide for ourselves. Renegades are mission-driven, movement-oriented, get-it-done activists. That's why we are attracted to Jesus; the one who draws His circle of friendship large enough to include "whosoever will" may come. Christianity is a big tent with lots of room for characters, comrades, and cohorts.

There are four very real reasons why renegades run from religion. They are: the fear of being shamed, tamed, lumped, and limited. Renegades shy away from being shamed. They know something is terribly wrong with the world. They feel the effects of sin and brokenness, they agree that what's wrong with everyone else is what's wrong with me, but when we say we sin we're not saying we're worthless or unlovable. Religion makes little or no distinction between guilt and shame. And that is one of its many fundamental flaws. Real guilt, the kind which drives you into the waiting arms of a merciful, forgiving, grace-infusing God, is a good thing. But shame only drives us away from God, deeper and deeper into our own depravity and despair. Shaming is not just wrong-I believe it's one of the reasons why we see so much violence plastered across the nightly news. If you beat into my head I'm bad, then don't be shocked when I am.

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