I haven’t written for couple weeks as I started with Facebook, and wanted to see if it would work for me or not. It’s been interesting listening to family and friends, even non-Christians too. On FBk you skim the surface of lives mostly, but you get an idea of others interests, values on life.
It hit me recently that some may not like it when I write, ‘I just leaned on God,’ or ‘God was there all the time.’ If you’re outside the body of believers, yeah, I can see how you might assess us Christians’ by one statement as being weak, that we lean on God without thinking, like we don’t have a will of our own? But of course, you don’t know if a person is weak or not by one sentence you read.
I know, I get embarrassed by some Christian rants or public embarrasment, but I don’t judge. There are scads of people in America calling themselves Christians, so you’re going to hear any kind of thing any day of the week. And those scads of people come from so many parts of society and are going thru multiple challenges in their lives! No one is exempt from challenges! Beware of someone who’s always happy, in control. We all have not only personal/family trials all the time but communal issues of deep significance on our hearts & minds daily. Christians need to adjust their faith walk, their rhetoric.
You never know what person is dealing with mental illness, learning disorders or cancer in their family. You don’t know if that Christian has a loved one who’s fighting addictions to chemicals, porn or has kids who are so out of control or self-centered they are driving the family bonkers! I have friends or family dealing with these issues right now, but I can tell you that there’s no better place to be than in the church during these challenges!! The world doesn’t know how many people in the church are there with hugs, books, counseling, prayer for every need or crises we go thru! The world mostly knows ‘don’t worry, you’re making a mountain out of a molehill’, ‘aw, the world’s all messed up, why are you complaining’? Only with God is there hope!
When I heard of Marc’s tragedy I didn’t just all of a sudden say, ‘okay, let me put on my God hat now.’ No, God was a part of my life for years. First, He’s so majestic and beautiful, but then I’ve seen his kindness and forgiveness thru so many! He’s played a giant part in history. I didn’t come from a model Christian family where I had faith mentors and everything went my way. It was because of victory over pain in relationships, or the blessings of good health, sound mind, enough genuine love that I was able to meet the crises re: Marc. Real faith is a life experience not an intellectual exercise.
I know some people judge me but I figure they are in transition! Some are searching & confused or fearful, some are judging. Nothing in life is ever static, we are always in motion at some level. Sometimes we see a flaw in someone, but to judge a person solely on a couple observations w/o knowing what’s going on underneath is not intellectually, spiritually honest. You can think one thing about me but to judge God solely by me (or anyone) is really stretching it.
God’s not going to give us a ‘free pass’ on Judgement Day if we tell him we didn’t believe in Him cause of some ‘crazy guy’ preaching on the corner or some lady in the news! He’s not interested in how many faults we think are in Christians, He just wants to know if we were good to others. God will not be mocked. He’s stated that He’s watching over us, to see who’s acting justly, righteously. He’s not interested in what we see in others, He’s interested in what He see’s in us! This world is insanely picking apart Christianity because of one person many times. Let scoffers have their say. God tells us not to argue with a drunk, a fool or an angry person! He tells us to live humbly and defend the poor, fatherless, those being persecuted for righteousness sake.