Jump to content


Photo

Do people really care?


  • Please log in to reply
26 replies to this topic

#21 CHRISTOPHER310

CHRISTOPHER310

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 201 posts
  • Location:United States
  • Gender:Not Telling
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church

Posted 12 June 2014 - 03:58 PM

Thank you everyone for all the time and effort given in your replies. I will no longer be making remarks on this matter.It is clear to the answer.



#22 noah22x

noah22x

    Member

  • Members
  • PipPip
  • 19 posts

Posted 13 June 2014 - 05:14 AM

Last night, I read this. Thought it fit.

 

 

 

We Stand in Christ's Triumph

 

 

by A. W. Tozer - 1955

 

 

 

Among evangelicals it is a commonplace to say that the superiority of Christianity to every other religion lies in the fact that in Christianity a Person is present, active, filling, upholding and supporting all. That Person, of course, is Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

That is what we say, and say truthfully, but my own experience has shown how difficult it is to make this belief a practical force in my own life. And a little observation reveals that my fellow evangelicals for the most part are not doing much better. This mighty world-beating truth gets lost under a multitude of lesser truths and is allowed to lie forgotten while we struggle, mostly unsuccessfully with the world, the flesh and the devil.

 

 

 

The unique thing about the early Christians was their radiant relation to a Person. "The Lord," they called Him tenderly, and when they used the term they gave it its own New Testament meaning. It meant Jesus Christ who a short while before had been among them, but was now gone into the heavens as their High Priest and Advocate.

 

 

 

It was this engrossment with a victorious Person that gave verve and vibrancy to their lives and conviction to their testimony. They bore witness joyously to the One who had lived as a true Man among men. Their testimony was not weakened by the pale cast of metaphysical thought. They knew that Jesus was very Man and very God, and He had died, had been raised from the dead and had ascended into heaven. They accepted literally His claim to be invested with authority over everything in heaven, earth and hell. How it could be they never stopped to inquire. They trusted Him absolutely and left the details to their triumphant Lord.

 

 

 

Another marked characteristic of the witness of those first Christians was their insistence that Jesus was Lord and mover in a long-range plan to restore the earth and to bring it again under divine control. He is now sovereign Head of His body the Church, they declared, and will extend His rule to include the earth and the world in His own good time. Hence they never presented Him as Savior merely. It never occurred to them to invite people to receive "peace of mind" or "peace of soul"... Nor did they stop at forgiveness or joy or happiness. They gathered up all these benefits into one Person and preached that Person as the last and highest sum, of every good possible to be known and enjoyed in this world or that which is to come. "The same Lord over all," they said, "is rich unto all that call upon him." The seeker must own Him Lord triumphant, not a meek-eyed Lover of their souls only, but Lord above all question or doubt.

 

 

 

Today we hold the same views, but our emphasis is not the same. The meek and lowly Jesus has displaced the high and holy Jesus in the minds of millions. The vibrant note of triumph is missing in our witness. A sad weeping Jesus offers us His quiet sympathy in our grief's and temptations, but He appears to be as helpless as we are when the pressure is on. His pale feminine face looks at us from the "holy picture" of the Catholic and the Easter card of the Protestant. We give Him our sympathy, but scarcely our confidence.

 

 

 

The helpless Christ of the crucifix and the vacuous-countenanced Christ that looks out in sweet innocence from the walls of our evangelical homes is all one and the same. The Catholics rescue Him by bringing a Queen of Heaven to His aid. But we Protestants have no helper. So we sing pop choruses to cheer our drooping spirits and hold panel discussions in the plaintive hope that someone will come up with the answer to our scarce-spoken complaint.

 

 

 

Well, we already have the answer if we but had the faith and wisdom to turn to it. The answer is Christ Victorious, high over all. He lives forever above the reach of His foes. He has but to speak and it is done; He need but command and heaven and earth obey Him. Within the broad framework of His far-looking plans He tolerates for a time the wild outlawry of a fallen world, but He holds the earth in His hand and can call the nation to judgment whenever He wills.

 

 

 

Yes, Christian pilgrim, we are better off than the sad Church can see. We stand in Christ's triumph. Because He lives we live also. Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

Christopher, thank you for caring.

In faith

Noah


  • Julie Daube, chipped china and radar like this

#23 radar

radar

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 149 posts
  • Location:High Point NC
  • Interests:Retired Navy and disabled veteran. Love studying the Word of God. Read Spurgeon, Rylism, Stedman, Hoekstra, Tozer, Meyer, and Morrison devotionals, sometimes Chambers. Study free online: Ichthys, Gotquestionsorg, SermonAudio, Christian Classic Ethereal Library among others. Like to ocean pier fish as my hobby.
  • Gender:Male
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church
  • HIs Laboring Few Fellowship Thomasville NC

Posted 13 June 2014 - 09:25 AM

Christopher, If I may offer that the same thing happens to me in relation to people when I see them with my own eyes. It will chew you up and spit you out as it is a ploy of the Evil One as he is known as an accuser of the brethren, slanderer, and only comes to steal,kill, and destroy. Outside of Jesus, man is weak, captive and in bondage. The bible clearly shows time and time again that even the best men that ever lived were fallen and sinful at times and the standard is perfection. That is why all, saved or unsaved, need a Savior who has trod this path before and overcame and gives us the same power to do the same.

 

I have learned that people will let you down. My old preacher would constantly remind us to not look at him as he would let you down, instead, keep your eyes on Jesus. So, for the next 20 years I was deceived and thought that he could do no wrong. Just before the accident where he lost his memory, I was seeing evidence of human weaknesses in him. Then after the accident my "idol" was shattered and was found to be an imperfect human being. The people I fellow shipped with for years had turned on each other like dogs, sly and cunning, not the harmless doves that we had portrayed for all these years. I could see it in our thoughts, our actions, our words, our self centered, carnal nature, our lack of love and obedience. We strived, each faction, in the righteousness of our cause. Church politics and the ensuring power struggle left no one untouched. We had listened to the lie instead of The Lord. I am not saying the Lord caused the accident with the preacher, the secret things belong to the Most High. What I am saying was our deceived hearts were being revealed and the glue that had held everything together was taken out. I believe firmly that it was to make us get up off our lee side and take a good hard look at where we were with the Lord. I was a long way from where I thought I was. I had gotten caught up in the mess and junk of the world right in the place I had become very comfortable for a long time, my church fellowship. I never seen it coming, an attack in the place you have felt safest and the last place you would have expected. I was somewhat prepared for the world and it's ugly ways because the people were sinful, unsaved, unregenerate and knew not the Lord.

 

Just to share a bit about people. I live with my adult son. He and the others in my family think I am some kind of religious holy roller with strange notions. The only other person saved in my family is my oldest son out of state, so it is hard not being able to have his companionship as it would be if were lived near each other. So I am outcast, with no relations with any of my siblings, father and mother, other children. Yes, I get to visit my father and mother, but they do not desire a true relationship, just observing a tradition. Sometimes I think that my children look at me as a sugar daddy, able to bail them out of every bad consequence that they make, choosing their own path instead of obeying their father and listening to wisdom. Then they get mad, and say that I am unchristian and uncharitable when I don't always bail them out as they need to understand the consequences of their folly. It is hard to watch a daughter destroy her family with disobedience, drugs, and self centeredness and go from a home, to a house living with a drug dealer instead of her husband, losing her daughter (to her husband, thank God!), then to a motel and next the streets. She got to the motel part with the drug dealer when they lost their rental. She pleaded with me for money and a place to stay. I reminded her she still had a husband and he was supposed to support her. It broke my heart because after much prayer I felt that I might be getting in the way of what God was doing to bring her to Him. Tough love IS tough! Thank God that my son in law decided to work things out with my daughter, that is a an act of God. When I tried to talk to my daughter about this from a fatherly perspective, letting her know she should be thanking God He didn't send her to the street where others like myself would be ministering to her, she got offended and has no communications with me. I told her that if she would be obedient and respectful, I could help her out. She says I show favoritism to my son. I may. I explain that as a consequence of her actions when she was younger ( she is 7 years older than my youngest son), I am trying to help my son get a start on life which he was denied as a direct result of her involvement.  My son, who is 28, went to bed with an underage girl and went to prison. He was able to do this when he was 17 years old with the help of my daughter who got the hotel room. He spent time in prison and with his record, blessed to even have a job with that police record in this horrible economy. It is a Subway job and does not pay that much. So he lives with me as we work together to rebuild his life. He disobeyed my better advice when he was younger and has lifetime consequences for it. He is mostly obedient these days, as he has placed himself in a position where he can be helped. My daughter, has had several marriages to good men who provided for her. She will not come to a place where I can help her because of her choices in rebellion. My son never had a chance at life. I have to be very careful to guard against unforgiveness and bitterness, especially toward my unsaved ones. That is just a peek, as there are more examples I could point out. This was a consequence of my own actions when my children were younger and I did not bring them up in the nurture and care of the Lord. 

 

So, the church life falls apart, the family is destroyed, and I am stripped of all but Jesus. I got my eyes on people instead of Jesus. Even the homeless mission I thought I was helping from right motives but soon found that my heart had betrayed me. I lost some of the preconceived ideas that I had about "those" people. I found them to be no different than me, some, perhaps, more noble than I, but life had dealt with them harshly. They need Jesus. They need to see Jesus and His love. I tell them when they come in that we all have to stick with Jesus and with each other as the world cares not at all. It was heartbreaking the other day when I had a young man with a wife and kid who were starving and living on the street came in to eat and tells about how he just got out of jail and can't get food stamps because of his record and the country he is a citizen of rewards illegals and aliens with sustenance but he, being an American citizen, can't get help from his own. We just love them and pray with them and I tell them that the Lord said that those who are first now will be last and that in the day of His coming Kingdom on this earth, He will install the only perfect government that earth will ever have with Himself at the head, and all evil doings will be abolished. Give them Jesus! You have to show them love when they spit on you. You have to show them love when they despise you and use you, but the Lord says to rejoice greatly, for great will be your reward in heaven.

 

Keep your eyes on Jesus and not flesh and blood. Love the unlovable. You can only do that with the Jesus that is in YOU!

 

Hang in their my friend. If we persist, he promises that is only for a season that we suffer and that a greater eternal glory will be revealed and these old memories will fall away. I am praying for you as I hope you would also do for me.

 

One other note. There are people on here. People who are not perfect and mess up a lot, like me, but they all love Jesus. The ones that don't, they blow in and blow out, but here is a core group of loving people willing to share on life's journey. Christopher, your not alone. Keep your eyes on Jesus, it was these exact words a young Charles Spurgeon heard and a great awakening for him began. Him, called the prince of preachers, was saved hearing these words preached one night. May the Prince of Peace rule graciously in our hearts and God please forgive us for not keeping our eyes on you.

 

Shalom,

chris


  • Julie Daube, Glenn Rogero, elizabethcog and 2 others like this

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."


#24 Charles Miles

Charles Miles

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 536 posts
  • Location:West Point, MS
  • Interests:Medicine
    Fruits of the spirit
    Learning more about the Kingdom of God and how to live in it here on earth
  • Gender:Male
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church
  • First Presbyterian Church EPC

Posted 13 June 2014 - 04:29 PM

I certainly will not belabor the points already made by many other christian  posters here and I do understand that Christopher does not really wan t discuss this anymore, but after reading this whole thread again, I do have a couple of observations.

 

1. Yes Christopher is correct about the lack of people in this world who actually care about others.  Not a complete lack, but vastly more people do not care than do care.  So I`ll just ask....Does that come as a surprise?  The prince of this world is hard at work to strip any and all care and concern for others away.  Jesus told his followers that the world hated him and it would also hate them if they followed after him. No a big surprise that there is not much Agape love to be found. 

 

2.  There should be more care and agape in this world, and I ponder on the fact that there is so little.  Jesus said..."Love one another even as I have loved you, love one another".  He even said that love for one another would be the defining trait of His followers.  Oh my!  If that is the true defining trait of a child of God and co-heir with Christ, it starts to look like maybe there are not a large number of people who identify with Jesus and His teachings.

 

Just a few thoughts,

 

Charlie


  • elizabethcog, chipped china, radar and 1 other like this

#25 Kate Curry

Kate Curry

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 34 posts
  • Location:Tennessee
  • Interests:The Lord God Almighty. People. Also gardening, reading and beating Level 15 of Day D Time Mayhem.
  • Gender:Female
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church
  • Second Presbyterian

Posted 14 June 2014 - 02:04 PM

Some people really care and some people don't.   Some people care as long as it costs them nothing.   The painful, disillusioning thing is when people who identify themselves as Christians behave without love.   When church-going, Bible believing family members reject and ignore us it is especially hurtful and baffling.   It gets to be hard to trust anyone, to trust the words of anyone.

 

Matthew 24:12 has been on my mind quite often lately.   It seems to me that if Jesus said that lawlessness will increase and the love of many will grow cold, we can pretty much believe that it is increasing and people are more cold and self-centered than they used to be.

 

God is still the same.   I have had to give up all my illusions and all my expectations when it comes to other people.   My duty is to love God and rejoice over the friend I have in Jesus --- to act in love no matter how I feel and to forgive and forgive --- not necessarily to reconcile, but to forgive and rest all my trust and hope in Christ.


  • elizabethcog, Charles Miles, chipped china and 2 others like this

#26 robo328

robo328

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 36 posts
  • Location:SW Ohio
  • Interests:Music, Reading
  • Gender:Male
  • I am a Church Worker

  • I attend a non-Alliance church
  • Church of God

Posted 15 June 2014 - 06:49 PM

There's a television commercial for an insurance company, I believe, that says "for all the committments you make" as their slogan.

 

"All the committments I make" are usually the reason, I am seemingly, or actually, uncaring- The financial debt I incurr, keeps me from helping a brother or sister in need, likewise, it also takes more of my time, as I need to work more, to pay the debt, keeping me from even having time, or energy, to even visit with a brother or sister in need. I haven't even mentioned family committments, and now I'm caring for a sick spouse(See my prayer request "Wifes Cancer" in Prayer Space), to boot.

 

Last summer, when my wife was diagnosed with cancer, there was overwhelming support, and help from church members. It was quite humbling. Now it has died down a little, outside of prayers, which are essential, but the material help isn't there as much. A couple of my neighbors, who are friends with my wife, and who don't attend worship anywhere, have been a tremendous help, giving my wife rides to chemo, saving my vacation days.

 

I don't look at others and ask if they care or not. I figure they have the same struggles, and "committments" as I do. And, if they are like me, they regret some of the choices they make, to put themselves in such a predicament, that they seem to not care. Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Class' slogan is "If you live like no one else, then you'll LIVE like no one else" IMO, there's a spiritual element to that saying as well. I am thankful for God's Grace.


  • Charles Miles and radar like this
"In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength" -Isaiah 30:15

#27 radar

radar

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 149 posts
  • Location:High Point NC
  • Interests:Retired Navy and disabled veteran. Love studying the Word of God. Read Spurgeon, Rylism, Stedman, Hoekstra, Tozer, Meyer, and Morrison devotionals, sometimes Chambers. Study free online: Ichthys, Gotquestionsorg, SermonAudio, Christian Classic Ethereal Library among others. Like to ocean pier fish as my hobby.
  • Gender:Male
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church
  • HIs Laboring Few Fellowship Thomasville NC

Posted 16 June 2014 - 08:00 AM

Hey robo, love your scripture from Isaiah, I needed to see that this morning. I am praying for you and your wife. Did not get to the prayer section of this forum, but see I may need to find more time, like you stated, about commitments....

 

Shalom,

chris


"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."