I see folks all round, on television, on the internet, in a cafe or at the bus stop, with such strong opinions on the rights and wrongs of everyone. I found that to be a very exhausting way to live. And I came to see that as I was keeping myself distracted with the shiny objects of other's shortcomings and sins, I let my own little patch of the world go insufficiently tended and winding up with a lot of weeds in my own life. I have learned it is a full time job for me to serve God as best I can with very little energy left over to pass judgement on strangers...largely because it does very little if any good and causes a great deal of irritation as I become the shiny distraction the folks use as an excuse to not deal directly with God.
I believe things passionately and work for what I believe in, but I work very hard to keep that passion well away from people who might be damaged by it. I think of St. Paul writing to agree with folks who believed they were perfectly within their rights to eat food sacrificed to false gods, but writing that even so they did not have a right to damage new Christians who had more stringent views and might, because of their own (faulty?) beliefs, be damaged in their new faith by the "lack of sin in eating what has been offered to false gods" doctrine being more important than respect for these fragile new brothers and sisters.
So although I love Zuni art I would not display pieces with a common design that looks startlingly like the Nazi swastika lest I distract from a chance to speak in love to someone for whom the wounds of WW2 still ooze; I don't fly the confederate flag my 3rd great grandfather fought beneath, because one child who interprets that in fear is not worth my "right" to intellectual higher ground.
Frankly, while there are some conversations I might have with other believers who I respect as we struggle to understand the guidance God gives in the Bible FOR US AS BELIEVERS, these are absolutely not appropriate conversations for bashing non-believers or baby Christians about the head.
I'm also pretty certain that not one of us is getting things so right in our own lives that we really have time or energy to waste scanning the horizon as the church hall monitor checking for other's errors, sins, omissions, attitudes and tones of voice.
So, if you are concerned about happenings in this world that distress you, please pray for folks struggling with these issues. Spend time in prayer and study so that you are well fed and led as you exspend the days of your journey on earth, and I ask now for the blessings of the Spirit of God that you may be strong in keeping to your best understanding of what God calls you to do and not do.
But I also ask God's Grace that you will remember that God is bigger than the sins of this world, the errors in our own ideas and actions, and the fact that not one of us can every fully understand or appreciate God. But we have the gift of the Spirit to help us keep moving ever towards deeper understanding of how to be more like Christ. We do not need to live in fear because God is bigger than any of our boogie men.
But doing right, avoiding doing wrong and giving care to cause no harm as best I can that I may never be a stumbling block for another of God's children in his search for truth, joy, peace, healing, hope and purpose.
I believe things passionately and work for what I believe in, but I work very hard to keep that passion well away from people who might be damaged by it. I think of St. Paul writing to agree with folks who believed they were perfectly within their rights to eat food sacrificed to false gods, but writing that even so they did not have a right to damage new Christians who had more stringent views and might, because of their own (faulty?) beliefs, be damaged in their new faith by the "lack of sin in eating what has been offered to false gods" doctrine being more important than respect for these fragile new brothers and sisters.
So although I love Zuni art I would not display pieces with a common design that looks startlingly like the Nazi swastika lest I distract from a chance to speak in love to someone for whom the wounds of WW2 still ooze; I don't fly the confederate flag my 3rd great grandfather fought beneath, because one child who interprets that in fear is not worth my "right" to intellectual higher ground.
Frankly, while there are some conversations I might have with other believers who I respect as we struggle to understand the guidance God gives in the Bible FOR US AS BELIEVERS, these are absolutely not appropriate conversations for bashing non-believers or baby Christians about the head.
I'm also pretty certain that not one of us is getting things so right in our own lives that we really have time or energy to waste scanning the horizon as the church hall monitor checking for other's errors, sins, omissions, attitudes and tones of voice.
So, if you are concerned about happenings in this world that distress you, please pray for folks struggling with these issues. Spend time in prayer and study so that you are well fed and led as you exspend the days of your journey on earth, and I ask now for the blessings of the Spirit of God that you may be strong in keeping to your best understanding of what God calls you to do and not do.
But I also ask God's Grace that you will remember that God is bigger than the sins of this world, the errors in our own ideas and actions, and the fact that not one of us can every fully understand or appreciate God. But we have the gift of the Spirit to help us keep moving ever towards deeper understanding of how to be more like Christ. We do not need to live in fear because God is bigger than any of our boogie men.
But doing right, avoiding doing wrong and giving care to cause no harm as best I can that I may never be a stumbling block for another of God's children in his search for truth, joy, peace, healing, hope and purpose.
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