The balancing act

       Let's see how writing a post while falling asleep goes. I may have to fix it later so it makes sense! Here we go! 

So much of what we do is balancing. Or at least we try to balance a lot in life. Food; portion and type. Family; correction and compliments. Time; work and home. Life; have to's and want to's. The past; mercy and justice. And on and on it goes. Finding and maintaining balance is more difficult in some areas than in others, but it's all a struggle. 

   

       Now while you ponder those for a minute let me tell you something that I've been wrestling with. Just hang tight with me, it'll tie in. 

       When did the church become so inward focused?  When did we start to think that people had to check off a list of requirements before being involved?  When did we forget that Christ sat and dined with sinners? Why do we take "misson trips" to another city but don't reach out to our own? When did the church become a business? My questions are endless. 

We've lost touch with search and rescue. The misson of the church seems to be turning into seek and destroy. We've lost the ability to love people to Christ. Beating someone with a bible doesn't work, trust me, I've been on both ends. 

I really believe that the church is having "relationship issues" with God. Who's fault is it? Well....he's perfect...so that doesn't leave many choices, does it? Do we really have a relationship? We know rules and regulations inside and out and some are purely tradition that we've etched into law. When did we turn a place of meeting into a temple? Have we become Pharisees? Do we know about God, but not KNOW God? 

       So many times we sit and judge and wag our heads at those seeking God. Pure God, not what we've made him. They come and sit in service feeling akward and heavy, hoping to see people (heaven forbid) full of joy in worship. Not looking at their phones, continually checking the clock or singing like their voices are weighed by thick mud. Praying to catch a glimpse of grace and mercy from Gods people.

We love to let Satan get the best of us, don't we? He keeps us busy focused on the politics and details. I frankly don't care if clap in church or not. Or if you pray sitting, standing, or kneeling. Or if you have a power point or use hymnals. We cannot see the forest for the trees and are losing the battle because of it. Can we compromise truth? Not an option. But God be praised, it is possible to present truth in love. Without judgmental glances and upward tilted noses. 

        When was the last time we decided to go sit and visit with the people we felt weren't up to "the standard"? God sent his son for everyone didn't he? We were all lost at some point, and many of us keep getting lost. Yet, we cannot bring ourselves to reach out. Why? Now, don't get your knickers in a twist. I'm not expecting us to spend every moment of every day standing on a street corner with a mega phone. I'm just asking you to get your hands dirty. Learn to love people as they are; flawed creatures, seeking mercy. If we can't love people as they are, then we can't love ourselves, because we are all flawed, are we not? Anyone out there want to cast the first stone? 

        Now this is where it ties in. I want a relationship with my creator (see post before last for more on this). I want to know, love, and praise him with everything that I am. BUT, I don't want to ignore the reverence that is due. I dare not stuff God in a cute box to carry in my pocket. No. I want to be in awe of His Majesty and holiness as much as I want to be held in his arms. I don't want the church to make Christ so human that he's no longer God. I don't dilute what he is with false labels and expectations. Holiness is something our culture is quickly losing understanding of. But I don't want him to be untouchable as only God and not any part human. So untouchable that I may as well not try to reach out to Him. It is a very delicate and difficult thing to balance.

      Most of my life I've been fed a steady diet of fire and brimstone. I've been fed impossible standards that left me wondering why I even tried. Grace and mercy were only for the worthy. You had to prequalify to recieve hope. I learned to fear God, but feared Him so much that I didn't know how to love Him. We can show both reverence and love. 

      Then we have the other end of things where God is only love and fluff. It is not so, friends. God is a jealous, powerful, unchanging God, and he has the power to condemn our souls. We can't even fathom his power. 

      You see how we must wrestle with this? How we must seek to balance? We need to focus inward to keep the church strong, but not so much that we forget our main purpose is to reach out. We need to be in the trenches with people when they are in a battle so we can help them out. Not sitting on the sidelines listing all the reasons they are there because of their own doing, or how they will figure it out on their own. Wouldn't it be sad if Christ did that to us? 

   

    We also need to find a place where we can love God, and still fear his Holiness. What's more, is we need to do this without compromising the truth. 

        Right now, I am one who is seeking. I am in the deep trenches and trying to survive. It is a lonely place. People look at me from afar and spin tales of "what went wrong".  I make mistakes, and continually need Gods grace. I'm trying. 

       Don't lose heart. There is hope for us all. Salvation is not unattainable. We can correct our corse, and learn to love the way Christ loves. We can stop the petty bickering and focus on what God wants us to focus on. We can open our doors and be examples of truth in love. We are not alone in these efforts. God knows we are not perfect, yet we seem to think everyone should be. He expects us to try, and not give up. The only perfection we achieve is by accepting the blood of Christ in baptisim  and letting Him wash us daily.  Gods grace perfects us.

     Together, let's look around us to help the hurting. Let's get our hands dirty and make ourselves uncomfortable. Nobody is beyond hope, not even me. 

 

Mama, who is the devil?

The other night something happened that make me think. My son and I were talking about some random subject that came up. Somehow, that lead to the topic of sin; then the topic of the devil. I don't recall exactly how it came about but I said,"the devil doesn't want us to love God". There was a pause. My son tilted his head and squinted his eyes like he was thinking very hard. He said ,"Mama, who is the devil?"

I was taken back by this question. We mention the devil from time to time but I guess I'd never really told my son who Satan was. How often our enemy is overlooked! I told him that Satan used to be a good angel but he turned bad and his only wish is to trick people into following him so they have to go to "the bad place" where God isn't. My son asked if the devil was the bad guy, and I told him yes. He told me he would love God forever so the bad guy couldn't win. How simple, yet powerful.

So, who is the devil? Far too often we forget how very real Satan is and how well he can be disguised. We want to blame God when things go wrong...but what if that is what Satan wants us to think? Unfortunately the devil will not be obvious or unappealing. He will be very appealing to draw us in. Friends, the devil is hard at work every hour of every day trying to lure us away from the path of God. He uses so many tools to get to us; anger, jealousy, distractions, pride, lust, and even time. Satan wants us to fill our days with activities that are self serving. Sports, games, busy schedules. These things aren't bad, but when they begin to consume so much of your time that serving God or others becomes 2nd place or a burden, then it's a problem.

Jesus said,"the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few!"

It is so true! In our world we want to know what the church can do for us. Or what we will get out of worship. We are not the audience in worship....God is! Christ washed the feet of his disciples and served others. Would we wash our brothers feet or do we consider ourselves too good? Or think someone else will do it? Satan would be thrilled if you just waited for someone else to do it.....because you're just too busy.

People spend 7 (ish) hours a day 180 days a year for at least 13 years, in school. If we spend 1 hours a week for 52 weeks studying the bible....we might get in as many hours as we had for the first part of kindergarten....maybe. We need to study. The word of God is our sword and our defense against satan. We must train with it and learn to use it.

Satan is real. He wants you. He knows you. He knows your weaknesses. When we became Christians we made a decision and a commitment. We signed up for battle. Ready your sword and your armor. God is faithful to us. He loves us and wants to have us with him forever.

The Lord's church needs workers. Step up to the plate and out of your comfort zone. God will be there equipping you and cheering you on. The devil will be cringing and trying to scheme his next move. Be prepared. Stay strong and pray long.