"What must our natures be like before God can feel at home within us?
He asks nothing but a pure heart and a single mind.
He desires but sincerity,transparency, humility, and love."
~A.W. Tozer
I grew up in a church where alot of focus was put on your appearance and the kinds
of things you did as a Christian.....this made you either a good one or a bad one.
Glory be to God...as each day passes..I am so thankful to be where I'm at today.
That He brought me thru an amazing journey and placed me exactly in the church I am today.
I'm so very thankful for my upbringing, but not a day goes by that I thank God for
bringing me out of it.
Because truth be told: It's not about what you look like or what you do that makes you better or worse. Yes, the obvious things that are listed in the Word as sins are not to be done....but from what I'm learning in God's Word...it's about this:
That He sent His only Son to die on the cross for you and for me.
And it didn't matter what anyone looked like: Jesus died for every single one of us.
And the focus in His Word is NOT about how you wear your hair, if you wear pants as a woman,
if you listen to praise and worship instead of hymns, if you participate in sports, if you watch movies....the list goes on.
What matters is where your heart is with Jesus and that we shine from the inside out...
that we live by the Cross and what was done there for our sins.
It is not our job as Christians to judge another by what they wear and do and say "You are
not good enough." That job alone is for God and the Holy Spirit WILL and DOES convict our hearts if we are in the wrong. So, please, if you are reading my blog today....
Before you go and judge so harshly those Christians around you....I just want to know one thing.
How do you have time to sit and judge, point fingers,
and talk about others and their walks with God
if you are consistently feeding your own soul on the Word and discovering the true joy of
being a sanctified, born again believer? If we are continually reading His Word
and seeing the simple truth of what sets us free: The Cross.
How exactly does that work?
Are we not to be spilling over with joy for what Jesus has done for us?
Are we not to be shouting it from the mountain tops?!?!?!?
And if we are consistently nit-picking about other Christians and their walk...
how is that we are shining Jesus to our neighbor at the same time?
How does that work?
4 comments:
who are you trying to convince?
yourself or the world.
getalife@hotmail.com
Thank you so much for this post! This is exactly what I needed to read tonight!
I've been having a rough time with a co-worker whom I am constantly picking up her slack for her and she's just a mean woman in general. She's been getting on my nerves lately and tonight I brought my anger home with me tonight. I read your blog post and realized that I can't keep thinking about what she's doing or not doing as worker and as a Christ-follower. I have to take the plank out of my own eye and "do business with God" as a mentor of mine would say.
I think "getalife@hotmail.com" has a valid point in asking "who were are trying to convince? ourselves or the world?" I know that when I blog about things close to my heart, I'm verbally processing them. I know that when I speak about faith, hope, love, patience, grace, joyfullness, I'm always seeking more of those things in my own life. And usually trying to seek them on my own instead of asking God to work through me. One of the things I have always loved about my favorite pastors has been that they have been transparent and open with their struggles and never ever said they were perfect.
"Get a life" may have had malicious intentions, but they definitely made me think about my faith and my blog postings. I'm so grateful for your friendship and your blog posting today. I love you!
It's Alyssa- Laura. I love what you've written here. And I know you have the right to say these things only because you have already convinced yourself and find so much truth and refuge in what you've written. Very beautiful, very true, and very much from your perspective. It doesn't read as though you are trying to demean other churches- it just reads as if you are telling of your own experience and what you've read and taken from the bible and your special walk with God. Your journey was led by God and you are grateful for where it's brought you. Awesome- this is why I love and appreciate you so much! Keep it up! I always read your blog when I need uplifting!
I loved this post. For a long time I fell into that trap of feeling like I was being a "bad" Christian that moment and a "good" one the next. But now I'm learning that God loves me just the same no matter what I do. He accepts me for who I am because of Christ. In the same way I don't love my kids more or less because of their behavior, that's how he feels about me. Thanks for the sweet reminder!
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