Hey gang, thanks for your comments on the last post. It definitely challenges me more as well when people respond and share their insights and thoughts. Feel like I need to share a few things to perhaps clarify a bit.
FIRST AND FOREMOST: Please know that when I post on here I am simply sharing my thoughts about where I am at the moment in this journey with Jesus. It may be right on target with His heart and it may be way off base somewhere. I always pray for God's Spirit to lead my heart and my thoughts and make me look, act, and love more like His Son but I know that my humanness will undoubtedly get in the way sometimes. So I guess I would ask you to read it as that, a journey in process. Doesn't have to look exactly like your journey and most times won't probably and that's what makes God so unbelievable that He would choose to be that intimately involved in each of our lives. I pray that regardless of whether you agree or disagree it might challenge your walk with Him as you think about some of what God is challenging me with. If you disagree and yet are challenged to think it through and mull it over with Him, I am a happy girl regardless.
To add to that, I'm not bailing on "Christ's" church. Being a part of the body of Christ has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. I have been privileged to worship with a family who has become just that and I watch them with humility pursuing holiness. It has grown me up and nurtured my heart and helped foster an atmosphere that has helped me walk into a personal relationship with Christ and has forever changed my life. So I'm hanging with the body of Christ, I just have been challenged lately to recognize my place in all of that.
I'll speak personally here for a moment. I think I was able to go through most of life up to this point minus the past few years with a pretty lacsidaisical attitude about my relationship with God because I think I had this very unacute awareness of how desperately I needed Him. I didn't hear much about how messed up we all were but about how good we were supposed to be and act and somewhere in there I didn't come face down before God. I have heard a hundred similar stories. When I did however, and I realized that I am a sinner who is absolutely lost without Christ's blood and wandering aimlessly without God's help, it wasn't an excuse to throw my hands up in the air and not try, I wanted so badly to be who He is asking me to be because I realize how much He loves me and I am compelled by that. I've made a thousand better decisions out of this relationship of love than I ever made out of my doctrinal know what I'm supposed to do stuff. Think that's true for most people who've gotten a taste of fall on your face grace.
My thoughts in the last post weren't a criticism of any one fellowship of believers at all. It was just my thoughts on where we find ourselves as Christians in general sometimes. Myself as guilty as anyone else.
I just have been over and over again challenged by the words arrogance and pride lately. Maybe because God's trying to drill them out of me I don't know. I have also been over and over again allured by this word humility and desperately wanting to possess it and help to encourage it.
I guess I've just watched people over here with nothing who have absolutely nothing to be prideful about and they walk into this church building like hungry thirsty souls who are begging for a touch from God. Just wish we could all be more like that sometimes I guess.
3 comments:
Jen~
I came on here to post a comment for the previous blog when I saw this new one. I came on here to tell you that I have borrowed your words (no worries, I didn't take credit :0)) and share them with others. I wanted to thank you for articulating so well that which has been my argument also to this point in my journey. Too often people want nothing to do with "Church" for those reasons, that it appears religion is just a bunch of people that think they are better than others. Sadly there are a lot of people I love who have that attitude or are just lacsidaisical about "church". Also a sad thing that I know a lot of His children who use a militant attitude and reasoning to try to recruite people to bring them to God and then wonder why people turn away. I think telling the truth about us as humans actually catches their attention and intriques them more to hear what you have to say when you take it from an obligation to a privilege; from a religion approach to a faith approach. It is a choice for faith, an acceptance of the gift of mercy, and service in gratitude of that irrepayable (is that a word?) gift. No doubt once we are a part of that journey we strive to be better children and be obidient to scripture, but I agree that some of the attempts to bring people to the journey are not received well. I have already passed it on to some of the hearts/heads that have not been reached with being preached at, and have gotten a positive response, so again, thank you!
~Jaime
Thanks for being such an encouragement! The Lord is truly speaking to you and leading you! Keep listening...I love your blog and hearing all the silly and great things happening in Tegus. It refreshes our memories of Honduras in our hearts and minds. I am constantly amazed at HIS power! Thanks...
Hey Jen,
As always you are revealing your true self in your blogs. Whether it is deap thoughts or laughable moments trying to get paperwork down there (welcome to Honduras!!!) you she the servant's heart. When you put "organized religion" under a magnifying glass, be prepared to see it all. I know we all feel as sense of agrivation and frustration whith "church," especially when we really get a taste of what it is all about.
But in our "revelation" of finding God's mercy and realization of how weak and sinful we really are, don't use that as a measuring stick for all of the others out there who are on their spiritual walk. There are some fine people out there in those congregations that we get frustrated with, and we all answer to God for our thoughts and actions. He will be the one that will judge us all through just eyes.
Keep up the work, I am proud of you. I can't wait to see you in a few weeks. Love you for who you are!!!
Terry
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