Set Your Sights On Things Above
We so quickly get our eyes off God. Let's get back into
perspective.
perspective.
6/19/2015
From the Desk of Rich ChambleeI have been struck by the reaction of the survivors and family members of the massacre in South Carolina. In an unusual bond hearing, the judge allowed the victim's family members to speak beforehand. They called for forgiveness, saying, "I forgive you, may God have mercy on your soul." Many of those who spoke expressed very similar attitudes of forgiveness towards this monster. They were not advocating that he escape punishment for his acts, but that they were allowing forgiveness to enter their hearts, especially despite his racial motivation for the attack. It has been an inspiration to me that they show the love of Christ through their emotional responses, before their loved ones are even buried. I heard a commentator say that it was cruel of the judge to let victim's family members speak so early after the tragedy. But by allowing them to avail themselves of the grace of God so early in this tragedy, they can start healing earlier, and they can spread abroad the testimony of how Christ makes a difference in their lives, when it matters the most. In our own midweek Bible study this week, our group discussed how to have a testimony of Christ in a world that ascribes to no objective truth, and is hostile towards Christianity. I had a chill run through me when I thought of how this murderer sat amongst the church members for an hour, and then proceeded to slaughter them. The chill came because of how it could happen in our own Bible study. Would we have the same reaction of forgiveness towards him? I hope so. Here's the question I want to leave you with. Detractors of Christianity react to us as if we are dangerous, that we want to stone the gays, and string up the sinners. (Not true, by the way. We're just warning people that every person has to answer for their sin before God, including myself.) How different is the forgiveness of the murder of those Christians' families who were ambushed and killed, versus segments of the gay community that hunt Christians to provoke them to act against their conscience? Which world do you want to live in? A world where disagreement against the party line results in political persecution, and can change on a whim, or a world where disagreement is pointed out as in conflict with God, but love is shown? I know which one I want to live in.
6/1/2015
Let the Holy Spirit do His workSin is sin, right?
And we’re supposed to be salt and light in a dark world, right? Yes to both. However, I was thinkin’ about this. Awhile back a young man came to our church and got saved. You understand, this young man was in the drug culture, relatively deep. He drank, did drugs, and for the most part lived a quietly drugged existence. It’s hard not to notice the tattoos in prominent places, his hands, his arms and neck, and it was even harder to miss the huge gauges in his ears. The kind that leave gaping holes in his earlobes. So this young man got saved, and became good friends with our family. He is around all the time, and we love it. He’s a great guy. So one day I noticed something different about him. He told me God had led him to take his gauges out of his ears…so he did. A little bit later he came and told me he’d struggled with the next decision, but that he’d finally decided God wanted him to have some of his more obvious tattoos removed. This is an expensive and painful procedure, by the way, he told me some of it. This got me thinkin’. I know no one in our church told him to take his gauges out. We didn’t tell him to get his tats removed, either. We just loved on him as he was, and didn’t worry about all that stuff. You know who told him to make those changes? The Holy Spirit did. Now, if one of us had nagged him, we’d have never known if it were the Holy Spirit leading him, or if it was a misguided notion to please those around him. Sometimes we are so concerned about helping our fellow new Christians out of the mire of sin, or just out of the mire of looking like the world, that we wind up trying to do God’s job for Him. I understand it’s a fine balance. We are supposed to exhort, reprove, rebuke…all of that. But we need to balance all that with faith that the Holy Spirit is alive in this person. We need to have faith in God that He will bring the new Christian along, and that God is guiding and forming this Christian. Remember that verse that says anything that is not done in faith is sin? Well, I think this is part of what God is referring to here. When we aren’t operating in a place of faith, we wind up running around trying to make sure everyone we care about is toeing the line – making sure that we’re reproving and exhorting and rebuking to the point that we lose sight of the One who ultimately is supposed to be our Reprover, Exhorter unto good works, our Rebuker. Sometimes God uses people to do this job, and we shouldn’t be so worried about what other people think that we refuse to do it when God tells us to. But we also need to be sure it’s God telling us to speak those words, and not our own fear. Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. |
AuthorI'm Sherry Chamblee, aspiring author of Christian fiction, mom of six, wife to a cool dude, and caregiver to his granny. Besides that, I am just little old me - it's just a phrase, I'm not really old, honest. Check out my new release!
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