1. Pray
For many Christians this may read like the obligatory nod to prayer. It’s not. Trust me, I have a visceral even violent reaction to the ‘obligatory’ (It’s a serious weakness of mine, which by grace I’m working on). How do you break through the fog of a false assumption? “Uh . . . hi . . . um, I think you are building the house of your life on a foundation of sand. See, the problem isn’t your job or your insomnia. It’s you. You’re a mess, and you don’t even know it.” That just doesn’t seem very effective, and it’s not.
Few things will make you feel as helpless as bringing people out of the fog. I started praying because I knew I should. I keep praying because I don’t know what else to do. G.I. Joe used to say that “knowing is half the battle.” Actually, it’s a lot less than half. There is a power that can make blind men see, but you and I don’t have it. So we talk to, we plead with the One who does. If we don’t start with prayer, we are going to war in flip flops. We’re showing up at a well-armed fortress, and we’ve brought super soaker. You may know what to hit, and you're aim may be dead on, but annoyance is about all you are going to accomplish.
8 comments:
you make think one's a blind mess. but in actuality if they have gave their life to Christ then in His eyes they are perfectly organized--I was assuming that you were speaking of the saved genre? If you weren't then that's a whole different story
Actually, I wasn't speaking specifically of either saved or unsaved. God's children are treated as righteous ones, as you rightly point out. But is that because we are, as you say, perfectly organized, or because of what Jesus has done for us? We are all a mess. Even the apostle Paul thought of himself as the "foremost" of sinners (1 Tim 1:15). In my understanding of the gospel and in my experience, those who see themselves as okay are the least likely to be okay. And those who know they are a mess are the least messy. Remember, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Besides, have you really ever met anybody, Christian or not, whose life you would characterize as perfectly organized? Just wondering.
I agree with Danny and thought the analogy of the super soaker was a good one. People are complex. Jesus took time to love them.
danny: i see that paul was saying he is the chief sinner, but he also said all are worthy. Once your saved, there is a line that you cross--sure you may backslide from time to time but God won't ever let you uncross that line. & when we choose to backslide we get grace. By no means am i downplaying sin, but the twisted view of grace vs. sin is quite baffling...sure were a mess, but like i said we are given grace. The saved tend to focus more on the sinner part of that concept. especially the elder generation--"yea im a horrible sinner, but God's grace has saved me." (that's a glass-half-full mentality) But in reality if we choose to accept grace for what it is, then it should be more like, "yea im a sinner, but God's grace has obliterated all of my sins, so i am no longer a messy person but an organized disciple with a mess & anytime i ask with love You will help me clean it up, because I am Your child, and I have Your grace.
I know of that story--but what most people fail to realize is that once Jesus has come into your life, then you are no longer "sick" sin has no authority in your life, Christ does--you've been given the vaccine of forgiveness. Being seen by "Dr. Jesus" is one of the initial steps of millions of the great future steps to come..once your saved, as a disciple, it is your job to help others(through Jesus) sick people become saved. (You have to keep moving in your faith if you desire to grow, You were sick, then finally you let the Savior purify your sickness, your pure and your sickness is separated from you, though it will always be a part of you, it will no longer have authority in your life Once Jesus enters into your life & cleans up your sickness you are healed so now it is time to move forward with your Journey. You will get sick again, but you have grace this time unlike before so it will only last as long as you let it last.
Quite a few actually, though more of them for some reason ;) are Christan--when you surrender your-whole-self and return the Love that is given to you, you'll get more blessings than you can handle.
Good push back. I don't think we disagree that much. I'm not sure where Paul says that we are "worthy." It seems he generally says the opposite, which is why forgiveness is called forgiveness and grace is called grace. If we were worthy, we would deserve acceptance and blessings.
Mostly we are probably just disagreeing based on what exactly we mean by "organized." It seems that by "organized" you mean something like we have God's grace and help. If that is what "organized" means, then I agree totally. By "organized" I was thinking having it all together, having all the right assumptions, believing all the right things, making all the right choices, etc. I agree we have God's grace to forgive us, clean us, and help us to grow, but the only reason why we stand in constant need of his grace and forgiveness is because we don't have it all together. By grace, we continually get it more and more together, but no one has "arrived" yet. It seems you are pretty much saying the same thing.
I think it falls into what Paul said also in II Corinthians 10:17-18: 17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. This seems to me that Paul, though saved by God's grace, is only able to boast in the Lord, because He is the only one giving Paul the ability to do his ministry. It's an understanding that, though I am saved, I still need to be transformed. I come messy to God, He cleans me up. This cleaning takes time, because we are more dirty than we ever could know. The works we do for God after we have been justified are part of the sanctification that we go through, this stage being where we backslide sometimes. God's grace becomes the defining aspect of our lives. Where once I struggled in sin, not knowing that it was sin, now God gives me the strength to fight it. This is where prayer comes in. One cannot hope to become more Christ-like if he does not know who Christ is. One cannot also expect to rely on God's grace if they know not what it is. We grow to be like Christ, though not of our own accord, giving us the ability to boast in the fact that God is the director, organizer, doctor, etc. Not me.
It was somewhere in the new testament..but we Are worthy of acceptance and blessings! those are some of the gifts we receive after we accept our savior--obviously one isn't worthy of those gifts if they are not saved. God's promise is to bless and accept us for who we are if we choose to follow & love Him. We do deserve God's everlasting love once we are His; That's a Fact--God hasn't and never will break His promise
organized is defiantly not having it "all together" Once were saved it's like God is our Secretary, He helps us with all the stuff we go through in life and doesn't hold it against us when we don't do so well (grace)
we constantly need grace and forgiveness because we constantly sin. that's just the distasteful truth, we know we constantly sin, but we are given grace & forgiveness so it shouldn't be distasteful, in fact it should be very tasty. I know we are unable to "arrive" in this live, but we have to move forward, and make the best out of it--Jesus doesn't want to live the sinner-saved-by-grace pessimistic mode of thinking, He wants us to live life as disciples creating other disciples
Tom: good input, now share that with others.
Advice for Danny: I know palm Sunday/Easter is nearly here; with my vast church(s) background experience I ask you not to "pull out all the stops" for any of your services, just use caution--i've seen many churches "infomercial" these sacred times, remember it's not a sales pitch; your not selling Christ because of the occasion, but your sharing/giving Him to the people.
Research shows that by inviting new people to church during these times they will most likely show up & since it is a special occasion they will be more influential & if you give them a false worship experience by "infomercial-ing" it then not is it sinful, but it is harmful to their spirituality but yours as well.
Thanks for the advice. I agree about Easter.
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