So what should I write about today…? I can always complain about Christians… I are one and they irritate the stuff out of me. But finger pointing and waving won’t do me much good. I want to write about something important, something relevant; something I understand. I want to expose my dark side and while doing so expose yours. We all have stuff and the sooner we own up to it the better. Too many people pretend that they have it all together (some people even think I have it all together – fooled them!), most of us try to convince others that we have it all together. I cannot say that a day goes by without me thinking the worst about someone, thinking everything is dependent upon me and find myself worrying what others will think.
SO let’s us make this easy. I don’t have it all together. I have a temper that flares from time to time, a mind that was corrupted at a very young age. I procrastinate, I make excuses for not doing what I should and for doing what I shouldn’t. I justify my sin and condemn others’. So what makes me any better than anyone else? Nothing actually. I am a sinner. But there is something that helps. I have been saved by grace. Christ has paid the price for my sin and given me the promise and seal of His Holy Spirit. I have a hope and a future.
Yet there is still this sinful man living in this redeemed body. I am not sure how this all works, but I trust that God will complete the work he has begun in me. I am better than I was before giving my life to Christ. Some aspects of my life have radically changed. But somehow I start to think I am better than others… I’m not! If it weren’t for the work that Christ has and continues to do in me I would be a mess. Oh I would likely have a nice friendly exterior, but the truth be known without Christ I would just be another hell bent, self-serving human being.
So I am not in much of a position to judge anyone, yet Christ has given me a call to correct, to rebuke and to encourage because most of us are unwilling to listen to sound doctrine. We like it when people tell us what we want to hear and we hate it when they say things that we disagree with. So I have to set myself and my assumptions aside and look to both the Word of God and to God’s Holy Spirit working in me. I will likely continue to provide correction and the occasional rebuke and I pray some encouragement through careful instruction, but not because I am uniquely qualified in myself, but rather because Christ has chosen me to do so and equipped me to do so. I am no better than the next guy; guilty of one sin – guilty of all sin. But I do want to be obedient to the call the Christ has given me, so hence some of my scathing blogs. I cannot let people live out lies thinking they are doing God’s will. That isn’t very loving on my part. Matthew 7 scares me too much for that. So I will continue to write as I am either provoked or as I am led by the Spirit. Please pray for me that I do not become self-deceived in all of this or puffed up. I can do none of it apart from God, which means I need to stick as close to Him as I can. I pray that you too will learn that lesson. Stick close to God and life will be so much more doable even when it’s tough.
In Him
Alan
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