"You can pick your sin, but you can't pick your consequences." - Havilah Cunnington
"Without community, there is no Christianity." - Gilbert Bilezikian
On my mind right now is the lack of love, unity, and intentional fellowship among those who call themselves Christians. At one time, Jesus looked at the city of Jerusalem and wept because He wanted God's chosen people to experience redemption, reconciliation, and peace with a loving Father. "You would not have it," He said.
I'm thinking of how destructive sin is in our lives--how it prevents us from entering into healthy relationships with others, and even destroys them. Sin prevents us from seeing how loved we are by a good, heavenly Father, and the dysfunction in and destruction of every relationship under that is a tragic, avoidable consequence. God has created a masterpiece out of each of these people, but they insist on taking their own paint brushes and adding a multitude of strokes which, when they consider their own selves, reflect a disturbing and marred image.
There are so many people I have known throughout the years, even people I still know, that I desired to have a great friendship with, but sin prevented a mutual, intentional friendship. Most of those people were "in" the church, but lived on the outskirts of fellowship. They pursued their own fleshly interests (especially that of sex), and certainly felt judgment and condemnation from Christ's representatives. If only true community and fellowship had been in place, these people may not have fallen away. Others of them were just too wrapped up in other things to give a hoot about brothers or sisters in Christ. They never saw the acts of kindness toward them, nor did they communicate honestly concerns, or they allowed the judgments of others to shape their own opinions. My personal feeling is that they never knew what true friendship and communion could be like.
What I see so clearly are people who hide from others; who are bound to addictions, fears, and compulsive behaviors; who are unable to engage lovingly in conflict, but instead are passive and/or easily offended and become aggressive; who "fellowship" only with those who attend the same church; who are unable to empathize with the needs of others; who are content to have superficial relationships, even with those they've known for decades; who live double lives and lie to those who love them the most; and worst of all, who just don't care to really get to know or bless others.
I do believe grace can win in these situations, but when we don't make time for each other, we don't experience grace. When we don't value each other, we rarely if ever experience the joy of being kind to a brother or sister, or allowing a kindness to be done to us. Grace found in this context of true Christian community breaks the power of sin, and thus the boundaries between us are broken.
"Without community, there is no Christianity." - Gilbert Bilezikian
On my mind right now is the lack of love, unity, and intentional fellowship among those who call themselves Christians. At one time, Jesus looked at the city of Jerusalem and wept because He wanted God's chosen people to experience redemption, reconciliation, and peace with a loving Father. "You would not have it," He said.
I'm thinking of how destructive sin is in our lives--how it prevents us from entering into healthy relationships with others, and even destroys them. Sin prevents us from seeing how loved we are by a good, heavenly Father, and the dysfunction in and destruction of every relationship under that is a tragic, avoidable consequence. God has created a masterpiece out of each of these people, but they insist on taking their own paint brushes and adding a multitude of strokes which, when they consider their own selves, reflect a disturbing and marred image.
There are so many people I have known throughout the years, even people I still know, that I desired to have a great friendship with, but sin prevented a mutual, intentional friendship. Most of those people were "in" the church, but lived on the outskirts of fellowship. They pursued their own fleshly interests (especially that of sex), and certainly felt judgment and condemnation from Christ's representatives. If only true community and fellowship had been in place, these people may not have fallen away. Others of them were just too wrapped up in other things to give a hoot about brothers or sisters in Christ. They never saw the acts of kindness toward them, nor did they communicate honestly concerns, or they allowed the judgments of others to shape their own opinions. My personal feeling is that they never knew what true friendship and communion could be like.
What I see so clearly are people who hide from others; who are bound to addictions, fears, and compulsive behaviors; who are unable to engage lovingly in conflict, but instead are passive and/or easily offended and become aggressive; who "fellowship" only with those who attend the same church; who are unable to empathize with the needs of others; who are content to have superficial relationships, even with those they've known for decades; who live double lives and lie to those who love them the most; and worst of all, who just don't care to really get to know or bless others.
I do believe grace can win in these situations, but when we don't make time for each other, we don't experience grace. When we don't value each other, we rarely if ever experience the joy of being kind to a brother or sister, or allowing a kindness to be done to us. Grace found in this context of true Christian community breaks the power of sin, and thus the boundaries between us are broken.
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
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