"Be happy in your confidence, be patient in trouble, and pray continually.........Be happy with those who are happy. Be sad with those who are sad..........Don't pay people back with evil for the evil they do to you. Focus your thoughts on those things that are considered noble." Romans 12: 12, 15, 17 (GWT)
One of the most exciting things that I, as a Christian and a Chaplain, have experienced in the purpose to which God has called me is watching God walk into the wreckage of lives and bring restoration and healing. This is one thing, as I struggle against the old flesh of my humanity, that I cannot see evident in my own walk, to the degree I can see it in others, because I am 'too close to the tree to see the forest' kind of outlook. It is one of the blessings we have as God's children to see it and mention it to those in the 'thick' of it to edify and encourage them to continue.
But what a wonderous and joyful thing to watch another's struggles, though just beginning in earnest, bearing fruit for the testimony they will one day bear for the Kingdom. To discuss, without bitter words or angry accusations, the powerful and healing journey that has begun by one, and to edify their desire to follow through with hard earned experience from one's own testimony to encourage them along the way.
And, in the interest of being a blessing to someone else just as the blessings have been given, to reach out with compassion and offer them a real blessing that would ease their struggle in some areas.
The verses in Romans were the lifestay of this shared struggle that concludes for me in some ways and opens a vista of possibilities in other ones. But God's hand is upon whatever the future holds for both of us in this season of life. Directions have changed and what might have been becomes the hazy horizon glimpsed out of the corner of one's eyes.
But, above all things, to see one growing closer in their pursuit of our Father is a goal of heady triumph and prayerful supplication that has been ongoing for months.
And I watched how the 'nice guy' faded like the morning dew upon the grass in light of the intensity of the SON...........Despite the wounds that have been unconsciously given, hurt that was transformed into anger, and being plunged into the dark valley, God has shown me in this meeting with my brethren in Christ that what I struggled to be honorable about, i.e. praying in confidence not for vengeance but restoration, rejoicing with those who are rejoicing and spending the time in sorrow with those who are sadden, and staying my all-too-human desire to retaliate.....all those things have borne fruit for the Father's glory!
To know, as a man who seeks to be God's design for masculinity, and who has taken some time in the darkness of realized tendencies and wounds.....this was a bright light that dispelled the darkness......that in keeping, growing more deliberate and confident, in the words God laid before me for this time.....I walked into chaos and darkness and helped to create an environment for life.
And it has become a place of forgiveness, restoration and healing for the one who needed such.
And as I told this child of God as we concluded the meeting, "If this struggle has brought you closer to relationship with God, then I am glad for it's happening.
For out of the pain has come NEW LIFE!!!"
It wasn't the apology, if any was given I don't recall. It wasn't that this child of God was humbled and meek; far from it, they are stronger than the Devil has let them realize. It wasn't the 'justification' of what I've said, done, and refused; there was no soft, easy way to answer what needed to be answered, to do what needed to be done.
No, it was LIFE that bore me into that joyful and praise-filled communion home with God, who said....
"This, my child, is what I have done!"
LIFE created out of the darkness...........
What an amazing and wonderful God have we!
Wednesday, February 4
Saturday, January 31
I'm a racist, bad seed, shallow Christian.....judgments
“And at that time [Moses] gave orders to [Israel’s] judges, saying, ‘Let all questions between your brothers come before you for hearing, and give decisions uprightly between a man and his brother or one from another nation who is with him. In judging, do not let a man's position have any weight with you; give hearing equally to small and great; have no fear of any man, for it is God who is judge: and any cause in which you are not able to give a decision, you are to put before me and I will give it a hearing.’” (Deuteronomy 1:16-17 BBE)
I could probably write volumes about the judgments I have received from my ‘Christian’ brothers and sisters in the past six to eight months about the writing I have done and the decisions that I have made in the turmoil that has been my mainstay in the turbulent times of my journey towards home.
I have been made to feel unwelcome in houses of worship where once I was viewed as a ‘man of God’ and a devout Christian.
I have been called crazy for not standing against the rumors and gossip regarding my soon-to-be ex.
I have been questioned and questioned about my decisions to let my daughter move back home with her birth mother and moving out to the little (and I mean little) village of Holly, an hour more from everything my life is involved with.
I have been called a bad seed, a bad man, an evil father, and a host of other names that don’t usually come out of the mouths of Christians.
In my opposition and declarations against our new President, both before and after the election; I have been called a closet racist.
A BIC of mine, Christopher Jobe, on the Out of the Wild website wrote a topic about ‘judge not…’ He had heard a sermon on this subject and felt that too many Christians are wielding the “You’re too judgmental” sword freely “perhaps trying to escape accountability or perhaps trying to justify their actions to themselves.”
Matthew 7:1 is used as a thrusting weapon by both Christians and society alike against those who are challenging something we’ve said or done. As Jobe writes, “Matthew 7:1 is an easy verse to pull out when someone is challenging our walk or something we are doing. "Judge not..." But if we continue to read on in this verse, we see the words "...or you too will be judged." And if we read on even further in verse 6 we see Jesus talking about dogs and pigs and in verses 15-20 He talks about false prophets. Are not both of these instances making a judgment call on someone? Or at least a negative assessment? I Corinthians 5:1-11, 12-13 speak to Christians judging those inside the church that is our Christian brothers and sisters. We are like guardians of their walks with Christ. More passages that speak on judging are: I Corinthians 6:1-11, Romans 16:17-19, I Timothy 3:1-13 (judging or making a character call on potential deacons), Titus 1:5-16, 2 Timothy 4:1-8, and Matthew 23:1-39.”
He concludes, “The standards we apply to others are going to be applied to us, so judge very carefully. And always speak the truth in love.”
If I speak out to a brother in sinful repast, I speak out against myself too....especially if I am in the same condition.
I must be willing to face that old self in myself before I can speak to a brother in love, speaking the sin and not walking away but standing alongside that brother as the Spirit convicts and enables repentance and redemption.
To encourage, to edify in the things rightly done in the struggle and to rejoice in the victory. As the saying goes, “Hate the sin, love the sinner.”
Christianity has become timid of itself. If it opposes the culture, then it isn't capable of being spoken in love. This is foolishness. If I am in error and someone speaks the truth to me in an effort to bring me back from the sinful reprise, shouldn’t I be grateful? That they were willing to stand in that with me and point me the way?
Christ reproved His disciples, speaking the wayward behavior and standing with them as they began to repent...He showed them the reason they were in error, and then showed them the path to righteousness.
Shouldn't we do the same?
If we speak against the issues that our President calls "Dull and worn" because it is sin, if we show in that declaration that we do so in a reasoning of repentance and salvation because we, like God, desire that none should perish....then how can we not speak?
Tolerance is the new catchphrase…..we should give our President a chance, as he authorizes our tax money to reverse the downward trend of worldwide abortions, as he silences free speech, and as he promotes that which is an abomination to God’s design for marriage?
I pray for my ex, for my friends who have spoken against me, and for our leadership in the Congress, the Senate, and Judicial branch; and our Executive in the White House, President Barack Obama.
That they will see God’s ways and bring us into a new era of repentance and brotherhood…..in Christ.
As for me, call me 'judging' when I speak what God declares in His word to be the truth, for I want to be held to that standard and if I am indeed sinful...I want a brother or sister willing enough to speak that in love, judging me worthy of their concern for my walk…
Wouldn’t you?
I could probably write volumes about the judgments I have received from my ‘Christian’ brothers and sisters in the past six to eight months about the writing I have done and the decisions that I have made in the turmoil that has been my mainstay in the turbulent times of my journey towards home.
I have been made to feel unwelcome in houses of worship where once I was viewed as a ‘man of God’ and a devout Christian.
I have been called crazy for not standing against the rumors and gossip regarding my soon-to-be ex.
I have been questioned and questioned about my decisions to let my daughter move back home with her birth mother and moving out to the little (and I mean little) village of Holly, an hour more from everything my life is involved with.
I have been called a bad seed, a bad man, an evil father, and a host of other names that don’t usually come out of the mouths of Christians.
In my opposition and declarations against our new President, both before and after the election; I have been called a closet racist.
A BIC of mine, Christopher Jobe, on the Out of the Wild website wrote a topic about ‘judge not…’ He had heard a sermon on this subject and felt that too many Christians are wielding the “You’re too judgmental” sword freely “perhaps trying to escape accountability or perhaps trying to justify their actions to themselves.”
Matthew 7:1 is used as a thrusting weapon by both Christians and society alike against those who are challenging something we’ve said or done. As Jobe writes, “Matthew 7:1 is an easy verse to pull out when someone is challenging our walk or something we are doing. "Judge not..." But if we continue to read on in this verse, we see the words "...or you too will be judged." And if we read on even further in verse 6 we see Jesus talking about dogs and pigs and in verses 15-20 He talks about false prophets. Are not both of these instances making a judgment call on someone? Or at least a negative assessment? I Corinthians 5:1-11, 12-13 speak to Christians judging those inside the church that is our Christian brothers and sisters. We are like guardians of their walks with Christ. More passages that speak on judging are: I Corinthians 6:1-11, Romans 16:17-19, I Timothy 3:1-13 (judging or making a character call on potential deacons), Titus 1:5-16, 2 Timothy 4:1-8, and Matthew 23:1-39.”
He concludes, “The standards we apply to others are going to be applied to us, so judge very carefully. And always speak the truth in love.”
If I speak out to a brother in sinful repast, I speak out against myself too....especially if I am in the same condition.
I must be willing to face that old self in myself before I can speak to a brother in love, speaking the sin and not walking away but standing alongside that brother as the Spirit convicts and enables repentance and redemption.
To encourage, to edify in the things rightly done in the struggle and to rejoice in the victory. As the saying goes, “Hate the sin, love the sinner.”
Christianity has become timid of itself. If it opposes the culture, then it isn't capable of being spoken in love. This is foolishness. If I am in error and someone speaks the truth to me in an effort to bring me back from the sinful reprise, shouldn’t I be grateful? That they were willing to stand in that with me and point me the way?
Christ reproved His disciples, speaking the wayward behavior and standing with them as they began to repent...He showed them the reason they were in error, and then showed them the path to righteousness.
Shouldn't we do the same?
If we speak against the issues that our President calls "Dull and worn" because it is sin, if we show in that declaration that we do so in a reasoning of repentance and salvation because we, like God, desire that none should perish....then how can we not speak?
Tolerance is the new catchphrase…..we should give our President a chance, as he authorizes our tax money to reverse the downward trend of worldwide abortions, as he silences free speech, and as he promotes that which is an abomination to God’s design for marriage?
I pray for my ex, for my friends who have spoken against me, and for our leadership in the Congress, the Senate, and Judicial branch; and our Executive in the White House, President Barack Obama.
That they will see God’s ways and bring us into a new era of repentance and brotherhood…..in Christ.
As for me, call me 'judging' when I speak what God declares in His word to be the truth, for I want to be held to that standard and if I am indeed sinful...I want a brother or sister willing enough to speak that in love, judging me worthy of their concern for my walk…
Wouldn’t you?
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