SEPTEMBER 2 “THINKING OF OTHERS”

We have really digressed from Paul's admonition here to "live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us and no one will find fault with our ministry".  Today, starting at the top with Pastors and working our way down, we have totally let this scripture fall by the waste side and our famous line "nobody is perfect, get off my case". Paul admits he's not perfect in Philippians, Paul never claims to be perfect. Being perfect is not the issue. It's about thinking before you act, thinking before "you tweet" thinking before you speak, thinking before you "post". It's about THINKING, thinking of others, thinking of how your actions will cause others to stumble, even though you may receive forgiveness from God....what about the collateral damage? What do you do about that....answer is nothing! Today we have preachers unleashing tirades of profanity on the blogosphere, we have Pastor's divorcing their wives and marrying some hotsy, totsy from the worship team, we have numerous infidelity, numerous cases of financial infidelity. The results, many stumble, many fall, they claim "I'm forgiven, I serve a God of Grace" and they are up and functioning again, if not in their own church then in another church down the road. If you're looking for that extra strength to overcome, try this...."think of others and how they will stumble because of your selfish actions".  Think of this, "yes I can be forgiven, but how do I reconcile what Jesus said "woe unto those that causes one of these little ones to stumble". It's really quite simple when you apply Paul's philosophy of the Christian life (of course echoed by Jesus) "live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us and no will find fault with our ministry". Is this a hard task? Yes! Is it an impossible task? Absolutely not!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NOVEMBER 6 "DOES GOD STILL DO MIRACLES?"

 The Psalmist writes, "who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord!" I dare say, there are some reading this blog that might challenge that!"  They would say, "list them, I'm hard pressed to think of one! How'' your miracle life? Miracles go hand in hand with opportunity. We have our lives so structured and we don't venture out in faith, we keep it safe. Well then don't complain you have no miracles. Peter had to step out of the boat to experience a miracle, but don't forget there was a handful of other disciples that stayed in the boat, safe and experienced no miracle! You can have it both ways.  Christians who venture, in faith, are the ones that have the "lists of miracles" to write about.   "Does God still do miracles? In your intellect you say, "yes of course", but in your heart what do you say? God does miracle, yes! Does He do miracles for you? Do you encourage others to believe in miracles and now you need ...
Read more

NOVEMBER 21 "CLASS WARFARE IS AN UGLY THING"

     There’s no denying, James is not that fond of “rich people”.  If it was only this reference in Chapter 5, that would be bad enough, but James has taken jabs at the rich in other chapters as well. No doubt, James did not grow up with affluence of any kind. We know from the Gospels that Joseph and Mary (James’ parents) were poor. Historians believe that Joseph died at an early age, as he is not mentioned in the Gospels; except in the early stages of Jesus’ life. Now with Joseph dead, James & Jesus, probably had to work that much harder to make ends meet at home. Jesus himself takes a jab at rich people saying, “ it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of an needle than for a rich person to get into heaven ”.  I’m sure in the  Church  of  Jerusalem  where James was an elder, there were not many affluent people in that congregation. However we cannot deny that it was Joseph of Arimathea, an affluent man , a prominent member of th...
Read more

FEBRUARY 8 "ABANDONED IN MY TIME OF NEED"

   This may end up being one of the greater indictments against The Church of Jesus Christ at our judgement; that we abandoned our brothers and sisters in their most dire time of need. In our reading today, the Psalmist eludes to a time of great anguish in his life and because of this his strength is failing; he then goes on to say concerning his friends, "I am a dread to my friends....I am forgotten by them". Unfortunately, it is when we are not at our best that our brothers and sisters in Christ seem to get turned off by us and often abandon us when we need them the most! Why is that? Is it because of selfish reasons, after all, who doesn't want to hang around upbeat people full of joy and victory, but are there not times that we need to also grieve with those that are grieving?! Another reason is their weakness probably turns us off, "why are you even struggling with this ....what's wrong with you!!?" Thence, we're turned off and leave them to struggl...
Read more