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Evaluation and Correction in life

If you follow me on facebook, I posted a thought that I know was God inspired; The depth that you are willing to be corrected is the height you will be able to grow.  I am coming up on a year since I started feeling better after being sick for about 4 years and I feel it is time to evaluate where I am now compared to when i got sick.  It has been interesting to reflect back on being sick now that I feel better.  At the time, I could not see anything positive in my sickness and what I was going through but now I know that God allowed those things to happen to me so that I would improve my walk with him.  The problem is that as I look back and evaluate what I went through, there are some areas that I feel like I have made great strides and some ways I feel like the pastor hiding behind his title and not being a man of God first.  Let me give you a couple of examples.  I know that I have learned a new level of empathy for people finding it difficult to follow God because of what I went through.  I had always been the “do these 3 things” kind of pastor and would have no patience with people who couldnt find the strength to follow God and do what he says.  Then when I got sick, I was in a place of not really even liking God.  I thought God was mean, cruel, unjust, hateful and wanted to see me suffer just for the sake of suffering.  So when I look back at my poor attitude I know it was for me to have patience when working with people who feel trapped in their circumstances and not able to do those “3 simple things” to make their lives better.  On the other hand, I feel like i dont really read my Bible more or spend more time with him than before I got sick. The extent of my prayers when I was sick was just wanting him to change my situation because it hurt and not that I really wanted to spend time with him.  I am the busiest I have been in my entire life and i find it hard to really spend quality time with God.  I still read my Bible and pray, but it is so hard to have quality time with him because I am so busy.  I know this sounds like I am being hard on myself, but I dont want to have to relearn anything that God was trying to teach me with my eye situation.

2 Timothy 3:14 talks about how the Bible is good for “teaching, rebuking and correcting”.  That verse can often times hurt because even though teaching doesnt feel too bad, I cant remember a time where rebuking or correcting felt good. Even though those things dont feel good, they are important for our development as a person of effectiveness in this world.  If I say I am a lover of Jesus, then I need to be praying and reading my Bible to know His will for my life.  If I am not evaluating my life and putting myself in a place of correction by Christ then I can never be as effective as Jesus needs me to be.  If you think about it, life is made up of correction.  When you drive your car you are always correcting to stay on the road and obey the laws of driving.  Get up from your seat and walk across the room.  Your body has just made amazing and calculated corrections to stay upright and moving forward.  The list could go on, but you get my point.  The “walk” with Jesus is no different.  If I want to go where he needs me to go then I need to be corrected and be able to follow his lead.  I am commiting to do the things I need to do to be the man of God I want to be to the people around me.  Not just because I am afraid of getting sick again, but because I know it is the best thing for me and my part in this world.

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I am not a Christian anymore…

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I am not a Christian anymore.  Maybe that sounds odd for a pastor to say something like this, but I had a type of epiphany this morning in my prayer time.  I was reviewing and thinking about the meaning of the word “Christian” to people who dont know Christ as their best friend and savior.  I am tired of R&B artists dropping F bombs and talking about inappropriate things in their music and then thanking God when they accept some award for a song or video they did.  I am tired of celebrities saying they are Christians on national television or wearing Christian t shirts and cursing and not living a witnessing life around others.  I am not saying that being a follower of Christ is being perfect, but it is following ONLY Christ and recognizing the sacrifices Jesus has made for my sins.  I really dont want people around me who are not Christians to look at me and see perfection because that is not what Christianity is about.  It is about loving all people with the love of Christ, constantly becoming more patient when I drive, or talking to God so much that I dont react to a situation but I step back, think about what I am doing and make sure it lines up with the Word of God and considering what Jesus would do in that situation.  I want to be known as a follower of Christ.  Not a man of perfection, but a human who follows a God that I know has my best interests in mind no matter what I go through.  That he is ordering my steps even though, at times, it feels like I am not able to take those steps.  I dont want people around me who are pre-believers to think that I take into account confucious’ positive sayings, or motivational speakers/life coaches helpful words for living a more successful life.  Being a follower of Christ is treating my wife with respect and love, being patient/loving with people around me and honoring those in authority over me as much as it is praying nice prayers and reading the Word of God on a daily basis.  God make me a complete person in the Fruits of the Spirit as much as the Gifts of the Spirit that I have in my life.

7holycrap Jesus thoughts

The health care plan and Gods possible future for Christians

I was talking with a guy on my airplane flight home about the health care plan that is being proposed for the US by President Obama. He said that he actually voted for Obama but had “voters regret” with some of the choices the president has made in recent days concerning the health care of America. We were talking about the “prioritization” of health needs that would be in the current version of the health bill which led me to share with him about my eye condition I had and that I would have probably lost my eye if I was “prioritized” under the national health care being proposed. I am a firm believer that there must be some sort of reform in healthcare because of the wicked medical bills my wife and I have endured for the past 5 years and the crushing blow of getting sick and especially the doctors not knowing what was causing my sickness. After I settled into my seat for the remainder of my flight I felt like I had a moment with God sharing something with me. Please hear me; I DO NOT want the current health care bill to pass, but what an amazing opportunity for the church of Christ and Christians to pray for people and their healing if something like the proposed plan would go through. I believe the Bible when it talks about future events that need to happen before Jesus comes again but I think we have a hard time believing it would be in our lifetime. Can you imagine it? The healthcare bill goes through, people are denied care from their doctors because of some government regulation in place so all they have is having a Bible believing person ready to pray for them and Expect them to be healed. Talk about amazing testimonies from all around America! They would be on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, local, national and even probably world news. I really feel like God put this thought in my mind because of an incease of trust I need to have with God and nothing else. As a Christian I need to do my part to let my voice be heard when I disagree with decisions my government chooses, but at the same time, I don’t want to stand in the way of God having a greater plan for us and this country than we could even imagine, dream or think. I only pray that God increases our faith to a point that if we as Christians are called on to lift those kinds of prayers that we will not let the United States of America down. That may just be the hour of thier greatest need. I am now not praying for the healthcare bill to fail, but for God to have his way in this country. Are you with me?