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I hope that your week is going well, or that if your week is tanking you are growing in grace. I am still getting a grip on the growing in grace thing.
Having rubbed shoulders now with a wide variety of denominations and other types of Christian organizations I am impressed with many things and dismayed at others. It is interesting that those attributes which fall into the category of "perpetuating the love of Christ" which are shared across the board form the ties that bind us together as the bride of Christ. The form it takes may vary widely, but the singular focus is the same, sharing and showing the love of Jesus into lives that are in desperate need of it.
Where it gets wacky or dismaying is when I/we/they start to pile preferences, performance and conditions on those who are on the path to the cross, those who are seeking deliverance from the bondage of life in themselves. Sometimes I don't realize their conditional love bucket is already full of guilt and shame. What I need to offer as a follower of the author of life is an unconditional love bucket full of mercy and grace. If that message gets lost in some organizational pettiness I have destroyed the pure and simple message of the cross.
The simple message of how much my God loves me is the greatest message I can convey to my relatives, friends, and those put in my path (I find it easiest to share Christ with that list in reverse, another weakness to lay at the cross). When I want a new brother or sister in Christ to conform to any other standard than to love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength, I have become a heretic, even if I qualify it as the "correct interpretation of scripture". As brothers in Christ we need to let go of the control we seek in pointing others to the cross. Let the Holy Spirit control true seekers on the path and be grateful we can be part of the process and growth.
Having rubbed shoulders now with a wide variety of denominations and other types of Christian organizations I am impressed with many things and dismayed at others. It is interesting that those attributes which fall into the category of "perpetuating the love of Christ" which are shared across the board form the ties that bind us together as the bride of Christ. The form it takes may vary widely, but the singular focus is the same, sharing and showing the love of Jesus into lives that are in desperate need of it.
Where it gets wacky or dismaying is when I/we/they start to pile preferences, performance and conditions on those who are on the path to the cross, those who are seeking deliverance from the bondage of life in themselves. Sometimes I don't realize their conditional love bucket is already full of guilt and shame. What I need to offer as a follower of the author of life is an unconditional love bucket full of mercy and grace. If that message gets lost in some organizational pettiness I have destroyed the pure and simple message of the cross.
The simple message of how much my God loves me is the greatest message I can convey to my relatives, friends, and those put in my path (I find it easiest to share Christ with that list in reverse, another weakness to lay at the cross). When I want a new brother or sister in Christ to conform to any other standard than to love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength, I have become a heretic, even if I qualify it as the "correct interpretation of scripture". As brothers in Christ we need to let go of the control we seek in pointing others to the cross. Let the Holy Spirit control true seekers on the path and be grateful we can be part of the process and growth.
