2006-03-27 - 12:42 p.m.
Something I wish I could make people understand is that the status of God and His love is not shown always through His people.
I have seen people walk away from God based on how Christians act and treat them.
SO many people hate going to church because it's full of hypocrites. And to an extent I don't blame them. Because I used to feel the same way. I used to look at this one pastor I knew that would tell about love and all the things we should and shouldn't do. Then he would do the exact opposite when he wasn't in the public eye.
I was disillusioned because I went to where I thought God lived and He wasn't there. I didn't see the love that was preached or the acceptance that was preached. I saw power plays and petty disagreements.
I thought what is the difference if you go to church or not? The people don't act any different here than anywhere else!
Then I came to understand what God's love is. Who God is. And now I get it.
Now I go to a church where the love of Christ flows through everyone. We are like a great big family and yeh we have our disagreements but people truly live the life there. They let God love others through them. And I'm proud of my church. I'm so happy that I can invite people to my church and I can know that the things my pastor is saying, he's also living.
That is what being a Christian is. Being as much like Christ as we can be. Not looking down our noses at people who desperately need God.
Because it's the people who need God the most who won't turn there because the God they have seen portrayed doesn't hold any appeal to them.
And that is sad.
Dave posted a quote and I want to make sure it's seen.
"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and deny him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
The song I mentioned yesterday..
Download it here: Steve Camp - Don't Tell them Jesus Loves Them (Til You're Ready to Love Them too) Here are the lyrics:
Oh suffering soul,
Don't tell them Jesus loves them Oh, the desperate man Oh, cry for the child Why have we waited
And a young girl sells herself
DOn't tell them Jesus Loves them My goal as a Christian is to let people know Christ by not just what I say, but by what I do. I want them to marvel at the extraordinary love that comes from Jesus through me.
I NEVER..EVER want to be the reason someone gave up on God because of my actions. EVER.
But also what I want to really hit home to people is that God never changes. No matter how poorly His people might represent Him. He still loves perfectly. He still never fails. If someone says Jesus loves you and knocks you down, that is not God working through them. THEY are wrong. God is not. And they will answer to God for those actions.
There is a reason the Bible says God is love. It's because He is.
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May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. - 2 Thessalonians 3:5
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2006-06-21-Chaplin facing courtmarshall for praying
crying out for love
In a world that seldom cares
See the hungry heart,
longing to be filled
Much more than our prayers
And a young girl sells herself
on Seventh Avenue
And you hear her crying out for help,
"My God, what will we do?"
till you're ready to love them too
Till your heart breaks from the sorrow
and the pain they're going through
With a life full of compassion,
may we do what we must do
Don't tell them Jesus loves them
till you're ready to love them too
Are we reaching for the souls
that are sinking down in sin?
We've lost our passion for the lost
and there are billions left to win
And another forty thousand children
starve to death today
Would we risk all we have
to see what of them saved?
so long to show them Jesus lives
To share salvation's song
Why have our hearts become so proud
that we fail to see
To love them is to love God
on Seventh Avenue
Hear her crying out for help,
"What will we do?"
til you're ready to love them too
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2006-05-17-Spirit-Filled, by Bill Sherrill