I grew up in a small Southern Baptist Church. This is something that as I have gotten older I have appreciated very much. I still to this day feel very grateful for this church and thank God often for this church and the impact it has had on my life. I feel like we should always celebrate the ministry where God pursued us and allowed us to cross over from death to life.
One thing that I do not like about growing up as a "CHURCH PERSON" is the thought that most of us obtain from being a "CHURCH PERSON". And that is that we are better than everyone else, especially people who do not attend church or "know" Jesus. We quickly can be the first to throw stones and be very accusatory. This isn't a Baptist or Methodist thing... it is a "CHURCH PERSON" thing. Just because we understand something and have heard it longer doesn't mean we follow it easier or more correctly. For most of my life I thought and was taught that drinking was the unpardonable sin at the same time I am struggling with being over weight. I would point fingers and treat people to be complete pagans because they drank. I was great at pointing fingers. And to be honest I still struggle with wanting and expecting people to be perfect. Then God reminds me, "Oh you want them to be perfect like you???". Then I am reminded how much I struggle with things and how imperfect I am. It is easy to forget how much we daily are in need of a Savior if we are always looking at how imperfect and wrong everyone else is. Sometimes... I feel like I can even make accepting the Gospel more difficult than it is intended to be. I can easily make following Jesus impossible for someone with my expectations...
I was reading a passage of scripture that I have read before and it really struck me and God has really been convicting me of what I am writing today. I was reading Acts 15. In Acts 15 the Gospel is being spread rapidly and for the first time gentiles are accepting Jesus. The Jewish converts to Christianity are arguing that the gentiles need to be converted to Judaism first to become a Christ follower. Of course it is a Pharisee convert who brings this up... They have a big meeting to talk through and decide what is going to happen with this and I love their conclusion. James, brother of Jesus speaks up full of the Holy Spirit and says, “So here is my decision: We’re not going to unnecessarily burden non-Jewish people who turn to the Master. We’ll write them a letter and tell them, ‘Be careful to not get involved in activities connected with idols, to guard the morality of sex and marriage, to not serve food offensive to Jewish Christians—blood, for instance.’ This is basic wisdom from Moses, preached and honored for centuries now in city after city as we have met and kept the Sabbath.” I love this! They give them three things to focus on not the thousands of rules Jewish believers follow.
I for some reason often expect things of people that God NEVER expected from me! Jesus says that His yoke is easy and His burden in light. Not the opposite. JASON (Church) can we just love people where they are and allow God to do the work of changing them into His image? Can I/we just be an agent of encouragement and love to people and not heap all these man made expectations on them? After all as I read on twitter the other day... "Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand how difficult it is to change others". It is impossible and only God can do it.
So let's not heap unnecessary burdens on ourselves or on people who are far from God.
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