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Posts Tagged ‘christian living’

Book Review – What Are Your Spiritual Gifts?

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , on December 31, 2018|

By Mike Edwards

J.D. Myers title WHAT ARE THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS is perfect and delivers in identifying spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible and how to personally discover your gifts to help others. Those who grew up going to church are very familiar with the topic of spiritual gifts. I would encourage those who didn’t grow up in the church to read as well if wishing God’s help to make a difference in the lives of others through your talents, interests, skills, and abilities.

J.D. Myers greatest insight into this subject may be that God desires to empower us to love and serve not just those in church but those we encounter in all aspects of our life. J.D. explains “the church” in the Bible isn’t referring to a building but individuals seeking to make a difference in the world.

There is a Spiritual Gifts Inventory at the end of the book that many will find very useful. But, don’t overlook Chapter 4 – How Can We Know Our Gifts? The Chapter is easy to read and offers several ideas of how to discern our gifts to help others.

Chapter 5 rightly disputes the notion that some gifts are better than others. That is good for us introverts. Extroverts often get credit, though they don’t need it because others are telling them what a difference they are making. The great news is God loves introverts and extroverts the same. Introverts can make a difference in ways extroverts can’t.

Now, those who grew up going to church want to understand more about gifts such as tongues, prophecy, etc. The book does a great job of discussing whether some gifts no longer exist and how we can understand such gifts.

WHAT ARE YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS concludes by encouraging all to embrace their unique gifts. God does! I enjoyed reading J.D.’s personal story about his and his wife’s gifts. Couples can actually enjoy helping others though different and with a fun than critical spirit. Be and accept who you and others are! God would not have it any other way!

https://www.amazon.com/What-Are-Spiritual-Gifts-Christian-ebook/dp/B07L1KBTJM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544969890&sr=8-1&keywords=jd+myers+spiritual+gifts

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Being Accepting

Posted in Acceptance of Others, christian living, Jesus follower, Love of God, Scoop.it, tagged , , on December 27, 2018|

by Jim Gordon

When it comes to accepting others most of us Christian people are quick to say yes, we are accepting. But we find many times we are accepting of only those who believe the same way we do.

If someone comes from a different faith, no faith or different way of life, we would rather argue with them and defend our way of thinking trying to prove they are wrong or unworthy.

When looking at the way Jesus lived, we see a life of loving others and accepting those who the religious crowd did not like. He was kind, loving, forgiving and caring to all he came in contact. It seemed his main conflicts came from the religious self-righteous leaders.

Jesus walked with the prostitutes, the demon possessed, the heathen, tax collectors and people who the religious crowd felt they should stay away from. Today we seem to think we have to stay away from those who are different or doing things we disapprove of to prove how righteous we are.  Yet we never see Jesus doing such things. He enjoyed spending time with people from all walks of life. He got in trouble with the religious people of his day for living this way, and we find this still happens today when we accept people just the way they are.

Acceptingthosewhoaredifferent

Fact is, each and every one of us could have a label or something that someone else would think is wrong. Rather than being judgmental and pointing out to others what we think is wrong, we should seek what God has for us and then show the love of God to everyone we meet. After all, we are not called to point out the sins of others and say what is and what is not sin. We are called to love God and love one another.

Jesus never said to separate from people. He said to go into all the world and preach the gospel. We do this by living a life of love, acceptance and allowing the love of God to touch people right where they are.

It seems to me rather than fight and argue over doctrine, interpretation and belief we would do better to love, accept and show compassion. This certainly does not mean we have to agree with everyone but we do not have to fight and defend our way of thinking.

Many of us think we have it all figured out and our way of faith is the only way. We think we have to persuade others to come to our way of thinking or they are doomed to hell. As we grow in the Spirit over time, we come to realize we were wrong many times in interpretation or belief, so why should we be telling others what is right and wrong and how they should believe? This should be something between the individual and the Spirit within.

I am not sure any of us have it all figured out, in fact I know none of us do. We all have room to question, learn and change. I know my wife and I are doing more questioning than we ever did and we are finding new truths as we walk daily in the Spirit.

When it comes down to it, we should be open to accept others no matter what their way of thinking. People want to be loved and accepted, they want to be happy and get along with others. When we get all religious and defend our point of view it does more harm and drives people apart more than anything.

My wife and I have been asking God for strength to accept and love everyone. No matter what they believe, what their faith or doctrine is, no matter their religion, nationality, sexual preference or color we want to see them as Jesus sees them. This is a type of love we cannot do on our own. It is only possible by the love of God within us. We want to love, accept and care for people. Naturally we will not always agree, but we want to look past those areas and love them in Christ.

LoveisfromGod

We feel this is the way that others will come to see the love of God, not through condemning and bashing them. Not in trying to prove we are right and they are wrong, not trying to change them or trick them into coming to our way of thinking.

Love does not mean seeing eye-to-eye, it does not mean we agree or always like some of the things people do, but it does mean we look past the differences and love them as Christ loves them. We see them as human beings equally deserving of love, respect and acceptance.

Let’s try to look past the labels and see people who have feelings, who want love and friendship, people we can get to know, learn from, share thoughts and ideas and accept as human beings who were created in the image of God.

Acceptance does not mean total agreement. It is showing love to people, respecting them and accepting them for who they are without an ulterior motive of trying to change them.

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Churchboy Soundtrack: Welcome to the New

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , on December 21, 2018| 6 Comments »

by Rocky Glenn

Lord is it possible to get this far
And just now understand who You are?

In 2014, after two years of repeatedly hearing preaching and teaching on the true nature of God’s love and how I did nothing to earn it, I could do nothing to deserve it, and I would never do anything to lose it, the message of grace was starting to crack through my thick skull and I found myself asking the question listed above. It was around this time contemporary Christian artist MercyMe released their 8th studio album, Welcome to the New. Not really an avid fan of the band, the release of their new album would not have normally been on my radar, but I had been hearing and reading interviews and promotional material from lead singer Bart Millard about something new in his life. Here’s a statement Bart shared on social media at that time . . . “Did you know the enemy most likely has a better grasp of who you are in Christ than you do? Roughly 2 years ago, a couple of dear friends helped me realize this. Daily they would remind me who I am in Christ. Constantly telling me I’m holy, righteous and redeemed. And you know what? Over time I started to believe it. Maybe that’s what it means to set your mind on things above.” Needless to say, having just been awakened to those same ideas myself, I awaited the album release day with great anticipation . . . and I wasn’t disappointed. It was if they had created my own personal soundtrack asking every question, expressing every doubt, and capturing every emotion I was experiencing as the churchboy chains and shackles were falling from me.

You broke your back kept all the rules
Jumped through the hoops
To make God approve of you
Oh tell me was it worth it
The whole time you were spinning plates
Did you stop to think that
Maybe He is okay with just you
There’s no need to join the circus

Just like that, with the lyrics of the second verse from the title track and opening tune, the band had captured my entire life of working, striving, and trying. From there, each subsequent track was one more reminder of the freedom, love, and joy available and I was just starting to experience.

Flawless not only described the churchboy life:

There’s got to be more
Than going back and forth
From doing right to doing wrong
‘Cause we were taught that’s who we are
Come on get in line right behind me
You along with everybody
Thinking there’s worth in what you do

It then went on to remind us:

No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made you flawless

Take a breath smile and say
Right here right now I’m ok
Because the cross was enough

My favorite track from the album, Wishful Thinking, comes at number eight. The lyrics not only serve to open this post but are also featured as the permanent tagline on the banner of this blog:

Lord is it possible to get this far
And just now understand who You are?
Feeling foolish yet relieved as well
‘Cause what I bought before, I just can’t sell
But now my eyes are open wide
If this is wrong
I don’t wanna be right
Could it be that on my worst day
How you love me still will not change
What if it’s really not about
What I do but what you did, oh what if
This ain’t wishful thinking it’s just how it is

Although this album was not the motivating factor for beginning a soundtrack series, I can think of no better starting point due to its constant presence and importance during the early days of my recovery. For a period of six to eight weeks after the album’s release, it was rarely removed from the CD player unless it was being carried from vehicle to vehicle or vehicle to house or vehicle to office. Bart Millard continued in the social media post referenced above, “I believe if you stand around truth long enough, it just might change you. So by all means, stay a while. The truth has certainly changed me!” Hearing these ten tracks repeatedly for weeks allowed me to stand around truth and, just like Bart, it “certainly changed me!”

As this post is published, it is now four days before the celebration of Christmas. I had considered taking a break for the holidays, but as I decided what the first post in the soundtrack series would be I realized how timely it was as Christ’s birth is God announcing to the world, “Welcome to the new.”

Rocky

Below is the list of scriptures Bart shared of which his friends would remind him and brought him to the knowledge of his identity in Christ. Learning who we truly are is the first step of recovering from being a churchboy.

John 1:12 – I am a child of God (Romans 8:16).
John 15:1,5 – I am a part of the true vine, a channel (branch) of His Life.
John 15:15 – I am Christ’s friend.
John 15:16 – I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear His fruit.
Acts 1:8 – I am a personal witness of Christ for Christ.
Romans 3:24 – I have been justified and redeemed.
Romans 5:1 – I have been justified (completely forgiven and made righteous) and am at peace with God.
Romans 6:1-6 – I died with Christ and died to the power of sin’s rule in my life.
Romans 6:7 – I have been freed from sin’s power over me.
Romans 6:18 – I am a slave of righteousness.
Romans 6:22 – I am enslaved to God.
Romans 8:1 – I am forever free from condemnation.
Romans 8:14,15 – I am a son of God (God is literally my “Papa”) (Galatians 3:26; 4:6).
Romans 8:17 – I am an heir of God and fellow heir with Christ.
Romans 11:16 – I am holy.
Romans 15:7 – Christ has accepted me.
1 Corinthians 1:2 – I have been sanctified.
1 Corinthians 1:30 – I have been placed in Christ by God’s doing; Christ is now my wisdom from God, my righteousness, my sanctification, and my redemption.
1 Corinthians 2:12 – I have received the Spirit of God into my life that I might know the things freely given to me by God.
1 Corinthians 2:16 – I have been given the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19 – I am a temple (home) of God; His Spirit (His life) dwells in me.
1 Corinthians 6:17 – I am joined to the Lord and am one spirit with Him.
1 Corinthians 6:19,20 – I have been bought with a price; I am not my own; I belong to God.
1 Corinthians 12:27 – I am a member of Christ’s body (Ephesians 5:30).
2 Corinthians 1:21 – I have been established in Christ and anointed by God.
2 Corinthians 2:14 – He always leads me in His triumph in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:14,15 – Since I have died, I no longer live for myself, but for Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 – I am a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:18,19 – I am reconciled to God and am a minister of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:21 – I am the righteousness of God in Christ.
Galatians 2:4 – I have liberty in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I am now living is Christ’s life.
Galatians 3:26,28 – I am a child of God and one in Christ.
Galatians 4:6,7 – I am a child of God and an heir through God.
Ephesians 1:1 – I am a saint (1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2).
Ephesians 1:3 – I am blessed with every spiritual blessing.
Ephesians 1:4 – I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him.
Ephesians 1:5 – I have been adopted as God’s Child.
Ephesians 1:7,8 – I have been redeemed and forgiven, and am a recipient of His lavish grace.
Ephesians 2:5 – I have been made alive together with Christ.
Ephesians 2:6 – I have been raised up and seated with Christ in heaven.
Ephesians 2:10 – I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ to do His work that He planned beforehand that I should do.
Ephesians 2:13 – I have been brought near to God.
Ephesians 2:18 – I have direct access to God through the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19 – I am a fellow citizen with the saints and a member of God’s household.
Ephesians 3:6 – I am a fellow heir, a fellow member of the body, and a fellow partaker of the promise in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 3:12 – I may approach God with boldness and confidence.
Ephesians 4:24 – I am righteous and holy.
Philippians 3:20 – I am a citizen of heaven.
Philippians 4:7 – His peace guards my heart and my mind.
Philippians 4:19 – God will supply all my needs.
Colossians 1:13 – I have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of Christ.
Colossians 1:14 – I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. The debt against me has been canceled (Colossians 2:13,14).
Colossians 1:27 – Christ Himself is in me.
Colossians 2:7 – I have been firmly rooted in Christ and am now being built up and established in Him.
Colossians 2:10 – I have been made complete in Christ.
Colossians 2:12,13 – I have been buried, raised, and made alive with Christ, and totally forgiven.
Colossians 3:1 – I have been raised with Christ.
Colossians 3:3 – I have died, and my life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:4 – Christ is now my life.
Colossians 3:12 – I am chosen of God, holy and dearly loved (1 Thessalonians 1:4).
1 Thessalonians 5:5 – I am a child of light and not of darkness.
2 Timothy 1:7 – I have been given a spirit of power, love, and discipline.
2 Timothy 1:9 – I have been saved and called (set apart) according to God’s purpose and grace (Titus 3:5).
Hebrews 2:11 – Because I am sanctified and am one with Christ, He is not ashamed to call me His.
Hebrews 3:1 – I am a holy partaker of a heavenly calling.
Hebrews 3:14 – I am a partaker of Christ.
Hebrews 4:16 – I may come boldly before the throne of God to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
1 Peter 2:5 – I am one of God’s living stones and am being built up as a spiritual house.
1 Peter 2:9,10 – I am a part of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s own possession.
1 Peter 2:11 – I am an alien and stranger to this world that I temporarily live in.
1 Peter 5:8 – I am an enemy of the devil. He is my adversary.
2 Peter 1:4 – I have been given God’s precious and magnificent promises by which I am a partaker of the divine nature.
1 John 3:1 – God has bestowed a great love on me and called me His child.
1 John 4:15 – God is in me and I am in God

More posts in the Soundtrack of a Churchboy’s Recovery series:

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In-Your-Face Attitude

Posted in Acceptance of Others, christian living, Lifestyles, Love of God, Scoop.it, tagged , , , , on December 19, 2018| 6 Comments »

by Jim Gordon

We all know people who are the ‘in-your-face’ type people. You know, loud, sometimes obnoxious, they do everything they can verbally, physically and any other way to let you know where they stand. The dictionary describes it as blatantly aggressive or provocative; impossible to ignore or avoid.

InYourFace

There are people in all walks of life like this. Political, christian, atheist, gay, straight, black, white, there are extremists in everyone group. They do whatever they can to let you know where they stand, to prove their point, and to let you know you had better accept them or you can go to you know where.

For me, I would rather have a calmer, even keel way of getting to know someone over time. That way we would each get to know one another and what we think about things without the in-your-face aggressiveness. No matter what each of us believe I feel we should accept, respect and treat everyone the same. We all deserve the same treatment and rights as anyone else.

Rather than try to force our views on others, I think it best to accept one another as is, even in our differences and various ways of living and be respectful and accepting of one another.

Coming from the christian world, I remember having the attitude that I was right in my belief and if you thought differently you just did not measure up. I still treated people right, but it was my attitude toward them that was wrong. It always seemed like it was me versus them in our views about life.

Jesus came into our world to show us that God is love. Jesus loved and accepted everyone. That does not mean he agreed with everything they did, but he loved them and showed that love. Now days we christians would rather point out the mistakes of others, choose what is and what is not sin, judge and condemn. Many christian people feel they should separate themselves from those who do not believe the same and use any ulterior motive to get them to “see the light”.

Jesus is our example and he loved people unconditionally. All of us have committed sin in one way or another, but Jesus set us free from our sin and condemnation. None of us are worthy because of the way we live, but we are all worthy because of the way Jesus lived.

Rather than be an in-your-face type person, let us allow the love of God that lives within us show others the unconditional love and acceptance of the Father and treat one another with kindness, acceptance and respect.

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Coming Soon: Soundtrack of a Churchboy’s Recovery

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , on December 14, 2018| 5 Comments »

by Rocky Glenn

Music has always played an important role in my life.  Growing up with a CD collection containing over 350 albums, each season of life contains its own soundtrack.  If certain songs are heard, memories — both good and bad — flood in like a tidal wave instantly taking me back to times and places past.  The journey of the last few years is no exception.  This path of recovery has had and continues to have its own soundtrack.  Although the style of music I enjoy ranges from hip-hop to country to gospel and to metal, admittedly, growing up as a churchboy, the majority of artists I allowed myself to hear almost exclusively had to be labeled Christian or I simply would not play them or purchase their material.  Part of being a churchboy was boasting in the fact that I could find a “godly” alternative for any genre chosen.  This narrow-mindedness severely limited not only what I heard, but also at times, and probably more often that I even realize or care to admit, alienated me from peers and schoolmates because I didn’t know their music and they didn’t know mine.

Since waking up to the realization of God’s true grace and acceptance, I have stopped determining what I allow myself to hear by limiting it to those artists only found on a Christian radio station or in a Christian bookstore or labeled as Christian at all.  I’ve not only found myself enjoying many artists and songs who would never be considered holy and righteous by the religious elite, I am finding God in their lyrics as they cry in agony or scream in rage or celebrate the joys of everyday life.

My intent is to share many of these songs, the ideas they present, and what they have spoken to me in upcoming posts.  I plan to update this introduction piece with a link to each writing as it is shared and look forward to possibly providing each of you a new way of hearing a tune you’ve may have been humming for years or exposing you to something you’ve never heard before.

Stay tuned and keep reading for a recovering churchboy’s soundtrack.

Rocky

More posts in the Soundtrack of a Churchboy’s Recovery series:

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Charlie Brown, Eeyore and Jesus

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , , on December 7, 2018| 5 Comments »

by Rocky Glenn

I’ve always had a fondness for Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang.  I can remember feeling heart broken over the “little red-haired girl” on Valentine’s, being spooked over the arrival of the Great Pumpkin, waiting for Snoopy to float down the street in the Macy’s parade, sitting in silence as Linus told the meaning of Christmas, reading the comics in papaw’s Sunday paper . . . Peanuts were and are a huge part of me.

Winnie the Pooh was not truly introduced to me until Geoffrey was born.  He fell in love with the willy, nilly, silly, old bear.  Because of this, as you can imagine, the movie was replayed countless times.  All of us familiar with the story can name all the guys . . . Tigger, Piglet, Kanga, Owl, Christopher Robin, and, of course, the resident pessimist, Eeyore.

Insert Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  I memorized this verse as a growing “churchboy,” but never really grasped the true meaning of it.  Of course, being the true churchboy I was, I had to memorize it in the King James Version as it was the only Bible and all other versions were just trash. One day, I discovered The Message, a paraphrase of scripture written to read like a novel.  This is what I discovered in Romans 8: “With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.”  What???  Let’s go back and read that again.  So I did . . . again and again and again.  Suddenly, images of Charlie Brown and Eeyore filled my mind . . .

That’s the way I had lived my Christian life, always expecting the worst knowing that if something bad did happen it was because I had done something to cause it.  When I read that, a light bulb popped on for the first time.  We are not meant to live under a cloud of condemnation, guilt, and hopeless.  We have been set free.

It has taken several years, and is still an ongoing process, but since that time, God has revealed a number of clouds that I have let hang over me in my life . . . guilt, low self-esteem, approval of others, and the biggest of all (and the true reason for the creation of this blog to begin with) the laws, rules, and man-made expectations of religion that God never intended or ever created us to live under to begin with.

What are your clouds?  Romans 8 says you don’t have live under them any longer.  It’s my prayer and hope that all reading this will learn to live out from under the clouds we have either placed or allowed to be placed over us by others.  We have been set free.  Galatians 5 form The Message says it this way: “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you,” or, just in case you prefer to read the King James Version, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

So, take your stand, be free, and live outside the rain clouds!

Rocky

(This post originally written April 2, 2016.)

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Is Our World that Much Different from Biblical Times?

Posted in Acceptance of Others, christian living, Love of God, Scoop.it, tagged , , , , on November 30, 2018| 5 Comments »

by Jim Gordon

We often think about events in the old testament and wonder why God seems so mean and destructive. How can a God who created us be willing to destroy so many human beings?

Many times it is written that God told the Israelites to completely wipe out and destroy a certain group of people due to the way they acted or believed.

In our world today, we still see so much hatred and treating certain groups of people as unworthy. Many religious people think so highly of themselves and the way they live yet they want nothing to do with those they feel are unworthy, unlovable and unacceptable.

Groups of people are killed, tortured, treated with contempt and meanness, all in the name of various religions who are representing the God of the universe. Love and acceptance are only saved for those who are like-minded and with similar beliefs. If you see things differently you are not accepted into the group.

LoveGodLoveOthers

Yet we see Jesus come into the world for the purpose of showing us what God is really like. It seems like such a contradiction. Jesus showed us that God is love. Jesus loved and accepted people who many in the religious world condemned, would not associate with and found completely unworthy to be loved.

I personally think God is highly misrepresented in the bible, especially the old testament. I think many times when men wrote that God said this or that, it was more of what they thought was the thing to do rather than God actually telling them to do such horrible acts.

So often the religious world says to hate those who are different. Do not associate or accept those who they think do not measure up. Stay away from those they feel are unworthy. Yet God says to love your neighbor and to love your enemy.

In a world where hatred and unacceptance seems the norm, it is time we who are representatives of God start putting differences and personal prejudices aside and let his love flow to all we meet along the way.

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Better Than No One

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , , on November 10, 2018| 1 Comment »

by Rocky Glenn

Snobs are people who look down on other people.  With the recent election season concluding this past week, I am near certain if any of the candidates running for office were point-blanked questioned, “Are you a snob?  Do you consider yourself better than others?” each candidate would answer with a resounding, emphatic, “No!”  However, the campaign ads, speeches, debates, and rallies polluted the air with such a vast amount of pretentiousness, arrogance, haughtiness, condescension, and flat-out disrespect one would be hard pressed to describe the entire season as something other than a season of snobbery!!  Social media feeds were abuzz on election day not with celebrations of elections won but simply of the fact the negativity, mud-slinging, and posturing would be finally, at least momentarily, fading from the public eye.

Snobbery could be best be defined as a lack of humility.  Humility is freedom from pride or arrogance.  Although deficiencies in humility may perhaps be most prevalent and easiest to identify in the political realm, the lack thereof can be found nearly any where.  The greatest cause of snobbery and lack of humility I believe is comparison.  We live life constantly comparing ourselves to others to see how we measure up.  Even those who would deny their own personal snobbery and claim humility are susceptible to the quick sand of comparison.  I’ve never been one to intentionally display arrogance or intentionally be disrespectful to anyone, but in my former life mentally measuring my attitudes, behaviors, and activities against those shown by others was a constant way of life.  Living in such a manner is a life of constantly judging others and determining if either it’s someone you are better than or someone you should aspire to be.  It’s a life of false humility.  There may be no outward manifestations of the mental courtroom in which you personally try each person you encounter, but nonetheless each person stands before the judge in your head as you determine their value, your value in comparison to theirs, and exactly where each of you stand in regards to each other and, of course, who may be closer to God.

I shared in my last post for the first time in my life I know who I am and I am comfortable in my own skin.  The irony in that statement is for all intents and purposes to most I encounter I’m the same person and they would never know there’s anything different.  The difference lies in realizing good enough doesn’t exist and I am human and so are you.  Once those realizations are made, the internal judging and comparison has come to an end.  There is no longer a separation of me versus you, us versus them, people I’m better than versus people I should strive to be.

Paul defines living in humility in Philippians chapter 2:

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

I began this post with a sentence from a daily email I received this week taken from the words of Frederick Buechner.  I would like to conclude with the entire passage I received:

Snobs are people who look down on other people, but that does not justify our looking down on them. Who can say what dark fears of being inferior lurk behind their superior airs or what they suffer in private for the slights they dish out in public?

Don’t look down on them for looking down on us. Look at them, instead, as friends we don’t know yet and who don’t yet know what they are missing in not knowing us.

May we all learn to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Rocky

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Live in Peace

Posted in Acceptance of Others, christian living, Jesus follower, Love of God, tagged , , , , on October 31, 2018|

by Jim Gordon

In the bible we are told to be at peace with all men (Romans 12:18). In our day it seems almost impossible to be at peace with all men, which includes believers and non-believers. When we think about all the different thoughts and ideas, the different denominations, interpretations and beliefs and the different religions, how could it be possible to be at peace with everyone?

The dictionary says of peace: freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions; harmony in personal relations. We can easily see that without the Spirit we certainly cannot do this.

LiveinPeace

I think this is what God is saying, that we are to live in harmony with our brothers and sisters in Christ, not allowing any oppressive thoughts or emotions to take control of our feelings towards others. In other words, we live in love. Just because someone does not interpret the Bible the same way we do, or go to the same church we do, or does not go to church at all we should remember that all believers want to please our Father. We are to accept one another in love and respect the fact that God is working differently in people. Just because it is not the way we believe does not mean it is not of God.

In regard to non-believers we are not to condemn them, force our beliefs on them or treat them like second-class citizens. We need to let them see the love of God by the way we live and treat others. They do not need someone beating them down or twisting their arms to get them to believe like us. We are to love them and let the Holy Spirit do the work that needs to be done in the lives of others.

If we believers could just understand that we are responsible for ourselves in the way we live for God. We are not responsible to live the way others think we should, and we are not responsible to make others live the way we think they should. We are to allow our Father to work in our lives the way He wants and follow Him on the path He has for us. Our responsibility is to love God and love everyone we come in contact with, accept them for who they are and pray that the Holy Spirit will work in the lives of others as he works within us. Living in this manner will accomplish much more in showing the love of Christ to a hurting world.

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Social Media and the Hatred It Can Cause

Posted in Acceptance of Others, christian living, Love of God, tagged , , , , on October 24, 2018| 1 Comment »

by Jim Gordon

I have watched with displeasure at times the discussions and comments on Social Media. This is a common way of communication these days and it is very easy to be much bolder and argumentative than usual. We express our thoughts and feelings in a much meaner way than we would if we were face to face.

I think most people find that sitting in front of a computer screen gives a sense of boldness and openness to express themselves in ways that are not always a good thing. I think there is something about not being in the presence of someone or seeing their face that emboldens us and allows our mean side to come out.

arguingonline

To me it is the same feeling you can get when you get behind the wheel of a car. All of a sudden we seem to be in attack mode. We blow our horn at others, yell and curse and flip people off, yet if we walked by them on the street we would smile and say hello.

There is something about face to face communication that usually changes the way we talk to and treat others. Face to face communication seems to take away the meanness we usually find with social media communication. Looking someone in the face, being in their presence seems to soften the way we talk and respond.

Why is it we cannot seem to see the human person behind the computer screen? Why is it we feel the meanness, this emboldened power to treat others with contempt? Remember Jesus said to love not only those who love you but to love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.

There is nothing wrong with social media and communicating through it. Just keep in mind that there is another human being on the other end, and even though we are not in their physical presence the things we say and the way we react has an impact on them. Let us make it a point to have a positive, encouraging impact when we communicate with others.

The way of Christ is the way of love. Whether it be online or in person we are to love our neighbors. In our world today living in love is becoming rare. Yet by doing so in the power of the Spirit it will be noticed and it will make a difference in the lives of those who are hurting and so desperately seeking for love and acceptance.

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