Ok, mark this day down in your books.. I stand corrected.. kinda.. What do I mean by that? Read on, and find out..
The last two weeks, I have been having a conversation with one of the youth that has revolved around this person's current physical state cease.. aka the other person dies. I have stopped her from saying these things, because, as a good Christian mentor, I recognize that there is power in the words we use. (See the book of James) And as such a good leader, I have corrected this person in order to bring them more appropriately in line with 'Christianity'.. (I use quotes because I am not talking about what Christ has called us too, but more along the lines of what we have deemed as appropriate behavior.)
Now, on the surface, to tell you the truth, I do not think I am wrong. As Christians, followers of the greatest expression of love ever given, and desiring to be more like Him everyday, we should not wish for another person to die, regardless of what they have done to us. My example in this is the following.. that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us... Jesus died for us to show us His love while we were still rejecting Him. We should imitate that, as much as we can.
So this leads to where I stand corrected. I was reading something today (found here), and it reminded me very much of what this person was expressing, and what the author was asking was something very simple. Is it wrong to express our feelings to other individuals? At first I was like.. woahhh.. not so fast mister, (he obviously hasn't been at one of my sit downs). Then it started to dawn on my like the sun coming up in the morning, and I realized what I had kinda been doing.
I was right in what I was teaching, because it was correct. However, I completely and totally forgot the part where, although what the person was expressing was harsh and raw, it was real. I wasn't allowing this person to acknowledge the feelings they had, feelings that unless worked out, can cause serious issues in the future (it's one of those deep roots things), and that can be even worse then just the vocalization of the emotion.
So, to summarize..
*Love others as Christ loved you.
*Don't ever forget that Christ is the example we follow.
*Vocalizing your feelings is not wrong, but allowing them to mold how you act is.
*Todd is not always right. (Ok, y'all already knew that I hope....)
*Cast your cares on Christ, for He cares for you.
*Find someone who can pray with you when you feel that your emotions are leading you away from a Christ-like character.
And to the one that this was inspired by (you know who you are), I'm sorry that I trivialized your feelings. I'll try to do better next time..
--
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
The Glory of Plodding
This is another repost. This time, from Kevin DeYoung. What a phenomenal insight into a lot of the current and contemporary ways of Christianity. I hope you find it as inspiring, challenging, and down right real as I have.
The Glory of Plodding
by Kevin DeYoung
It’s sexy among young people — my generation — to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul.
What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That’s my dream for the church — a multitude of faithful, risktaking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God’s glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency.
My generation in particular is prone to radicalism without followthrough. (read the rest here)
The Glory of Plodding
by Kevin DeYoung
It’s sexy among young people — my generation — to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul.
What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That’s my dream for the church — a multitude of faithful, risktaking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God’s glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency.
My generation in particular is prone to radicalism without followthrough. (read the rest here)
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Just a moment...
Ok, so, here's my scenario...
The phone rings. It's a business call, so I stop what I am doing to take care of that. Then, my son text's me at the same time that someone else sends me an email that I have been waiting for. So, I try to forward the email, but before I get hit send, my boss is calling me to do something. In the middle of that, someone comes in to the office that needs to see me, specifically, and as I walk back to my desk to take care of what they needed, I am confronted with the desk full of work that I was trying to take care of when the I got the phone call. Remember the phone call? Yeah, I had to go back up and look again too.
Does this sound anything like your day? Maybe not the same particulars, but the feeling that everything is way out of control, and you are just a soap bubble on the water tornado being sucked down into the drain. And to add to that.. the garbage disposal is on.
This isn't anything new, and for most of us, this isn't anything all that rare. Quite the opposite, this is the norm. So the question comes down to this.
In the middle of all the hectic-ness of our every day lives, do you ever just stop and take a moment and concentrate on nothing more then connecting with God. Taking that moment, and focusing everything you are on Him, allowing the rest of the world to 'become strangely dim'?
My moment today was what inspired me to write this. It was less then a minute, it was in a very hot truck, and it was awesome. No, their weren't any angelic tunes flowing through the radio, I didn't have this sudden burst of peace wash over me, and my day didn't get any easier. But, in the middle of my storm, I stopped, I gave God everything, and for the briefest of moments, it was just Him and I.
My encouragement to you is this, in your every day walk with God, don't forget that He is there, right there, waiting for you to recognize His presence, even in the midst of the chaos. So, take a moment, and seek Him, and you will find Him.
Take a minute to just "Be still and know that He is God."
--
The phone rings. It's a business call, so I stop what I am doing to take care of that. Then, my son text's me at the same time that someone else sends me an email that I have been waiting for. So, I try to forward the email, but before I get hit send, my boss is calling me to do something. In the middle of that, someone comes in to the office that needs to see me, specifically, and as I walk back to my desk to take care of what they needed, I am confronted with the desk full of work that I was trying to take care of when the I got the phone call. Remember the phone call? Yeah, I had to go back up and look again too.
Does this sound anything like your day? Maybe not the same particulars, but the feeling that everything is way out of control, and you are just a soap bubble on the water tornado being sucked down into the drain. And to add to that.. the garbage disposal is on.
This isn't anything new, and for most of us, this isn't anything all that rare. Quite the opposite, this is the norm. So the question comes down to this.
In the middle of all the hectic-ness of our every day lives, do you ever just stop and take a moment and concentrate on nothing more then connecting with God. Taking that moment, and focusing everything you are on Him, allowing the rest of the world to 'become strangely dim'?
My moment today was what inspired me to write this. It was less then a minute, it was in a very hot truck, and it was awesome. No, their weren't any angelic tunes flowing through the radio, I didn't have this sudden burst of peace wash over me, and my day didn't get any easier. But, in the middle of my storm, I stopped, I gave God everything, and for the briefest of moments, it was just Him and I.
My encouragement to you is this, in your every day walk with God, don't forget that He is there, right there, waiting for you to recognize His presence, even in the midst of the chaos. So, take a moment, and seek Him, and you will find Him.
Take a minute to just "Be still and know that He is God."
--
Friday, June 4, 2010
It's time to start a Revolution!
So, I was doing some reading the other day and came across John 13:34-35. Go ahead and click on that link if you don't already have this verse memorized. I'll wait...
Ok, back? Good. Now, I know this verse is not some form of super revelation or that the heavens opened up, or.. well, maybe they did, but for me, it was actually more like a light bulb that had been dimly lit in the background coming to life and shining nice and bright, illuminating the area where I was standing.
And oh, the junk that was littered on the ground. It was disgusting to me. I sat, in the middle of this filth that I called my Christian walk, surrounded by the darts of judgement, the fecal matter or my expressed opinions about others, and the general dirt and filth that I had collected over the course of time that had been thrown at me that I had in turn, thrown at others.
And in the light of this verse, I realized, that my justification for calling others words like 'idiot' or 'worthless' or deciding that others were not worth my time or effort just because they happened to annoy me somehow, was just flat out in opposition to what Christ told us.
I was humbled. I was angry with myself. I was mortified.
And then, not two minutes after writing the word 'idiot' above, someone called me and did something that made me want to say.. 'idiot'. Apparently I have some work that still needs to be done.
See, as Christian's, we are suppose to LOVE one another. And not just those who love us, but those who hate us, those who annoy us, those who we just absolutely know are going to make fun of us.
Why? Cause He loved us first. He died on a cross to make us right with Him while we were still in the middle of our garbage, while we pointed and made fun of Him, while we rejected and said His name as a curse.
If He can do that for us, is it really so much for Him to ask us to do the same for others? Share the love that He gave you when He died on the cross in your place. After all, it is how they will know we are His disciples...
Are you ready to start a revolution?
Ok, back? Good. Now, I know this verse is not some form of super revelation or that the heavens opened up, or.. well, maybe they did, but for me, it was actually more like a light bulb that had been dimly lit in the background coming to life and shining nice and bright, illuminating the area where I was standing.
And oh, the junk that was littered on the ground. It was disgusting to me. I sat, in the middle of this filth that I called my Christian walk, surrounded by the darts of judgement, the fecal matter or my expressed opinions about others, and the general dirt and filth that I had collected over the course of time that had been thrown at me that I had in turn, thrown at others.
And in the light of this verse, I realized, that my justification for calling others words like 'idiot' or 'worthless' or deciding that others were not worth my time or effort just because they happened to annoy me somehow, was just flat out in opposition to what Christ told us.
I was humbled. I was angry with myself. I was mortified.
And then, not two minutes after writing the word 'idiot' above, someone called me and did something that made me want to say.. 'idiot'. Apparently I have some work that still needs to be done.
See, as Christian's, we are suppose to LOVE one another. And not just those who love us, but those who hate us, those who annoy us, those who we just absolutely know are going to make fun of us.
Why? Cause He loved us first. He died on a cross to make us right with Him while we were still in the middle of our garbage, while we pointed and made fun of Him, while we rejected and said His name as a curse.
If He can do that for us, is it really so much for Him to ask us to do the same for others? Share the love that He gave you when He died on the cross in your place. After all, it is how they will know we are His disciples...
Are you ready to start a revolution?
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