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| One of several piano solo books I have... |
I've seen so many people "drift". I myself have been tempted to "drift"! (How's that for a confession from a pastor's wife?!)
A very interesting dialogue resulted from my initial post. Here's a part of it.
Friend: What if the church steps away from YOU?
Me: Then shame on it!
Friend: When they took my solos away because I was divorced I walked away...
Me: That sounds very painful.
Friend: It was...
People CAN hurt us -- intentionally and not. The church family is made up of imperfect people, and sadly, there are endless stories of people who, like my friend, have experienced pain from the hands of "church people". I'm not going to make excuses for "church people". (Neither do I want to give myself an excuse to "drift".)
People CAN and DO take away our "solos", but we don't have to give them our "songs"! So let's DON'T "drift",,,because "The temptation to drift away from a church family is predictably the first step to poor choices, stupid sins, and needless pain."
I will remember my song in the night; I will meditate with my heart,
And my spirit ponders (Psalm 77:6)
Morning Rebecca,
ReplyDeletewhat a good post and very good point. Everybody
gets hurt by the flock at sometime, but truly many times I think it is from bad communications or mis-understanding, and sometimes just selfishness or lack of sensitivity to people, but like you say the church as wonderful as it is....is made up of imperfect people like me and you (whoever else is reading this) and we need
to learn to give grace, cause I am sure there
have been people I might have hurt without ever
intending to......we are all different, and what hurts your feelings might not hurt mine, but what hurts my feelings may not hurt yours, and
if we have a problem with something someone did
or said and we pray and can't get over it the
scripture tells us to go to that person or persons and talk to them (not others) about it.
If we would just decide to put on our big girl or big boy pants and do that most times it clears up most issues.....if we would just do it. At least, that has been my experience.
Also think we should not be leaving our church
unless we feel the Lord has called us out, not
just because we have our nose out of joint because of something someone else did or said.
Today there are so many church hoppers......in the early church there was no where to hop to....lol
Guess they either had to do what the word says,
or leave completely, which is a really bad choice which like you say leads to sin and pain.
We can all be tempted by that at times........
I remember saying to the Lord during a time of difficulty with someone once, that this is too
hard I just don't want to do it anymore, and I feel the spirit gently said to me, and where else is there to go...........and I said you are so right Lord, where else is there, where life could be as good as it is with you...........
Temptation ended...........lol
Have a great day hon,
Blessings, Nellie
I don't think it drifting as much as disappointment. I have to say that my journey in the church has been very rocky and turbulent.
ReplyDeleteThere is just so much self-righteousness that the words of Christ are lost midst the heaviness of everyone's opinion and thoughts.
I don't see myself drifting, but I do see myself looking from a great distance.
Thank you for sharing Rebecca... have a blessed day.
I understand disappointment; I really do. I don't think that's what Rick Warren was talking about though....And self-righteousness was exactly what Jesus abhorred and condemned the Pharisees for. I'm obviously on Jesus' side on this one (only thing different is that I'm sure there's SOME self-righteouness in me. I pray that I will not be blind to it.) Interesting that in spite of the existence of self-righteouness in the religious leaders, Jesus still was a regular attender at the synagogues, etc.
DeleteI have to agree with mb. It's usually disappointment that drives believers away from the church. Also, we just don't see the power of God displayed as it should be. When Jesus taught there were signs following. We, His body, are supposed to do even greater works than He did but you don't hear of that very much. The church in America is so far removed from what scripture tells us it should be.
ReplyDeleteJust don't let your disappointment take away your song.....And while "the church in America is so far removed...", I'm pretty sure He has not abandoned His Church. We who are His Church need to be much in prayer about and mindful of our personal involvement/role in the "organized church"--and careful of how we reflect our attitudes about it to the world.
DeleteI agree with you with this Rebecca. We do have to quite careful. I know that when I express myself, I try to let go of any of the disappointment that I am feeling and just focus on Christ. It is Him that I want others to see, not the denomination that I happen to attend.
DeleteI agree we as Christians need to be careful. I think many that drift are not anchored in Christ. Perhaps they are still new Christians. It is easy to get discouraged by people and if not anchored we would drift. I love your honesty Rebecca....your a pastors wife which is not an easy role in life but first of all you are human :)
ReplyDeleteAs a PK, I relate to all of this Rebecca. I have a hunch that sometimes my mom did too. She used to say about God's people... 'poor God!'... He puts up with all of us. :)
ReplyDelete"Poor God," indeed :)
DeleteP.S.... I just love your quotes and scriptures on the side bar. I GET them all!
ReplyDeleteSonja, I guess you can see that along with too many other things, I "collect" quotes. I've loved words as long as I can remember....I add quotes frequently under the tab at the top of this page.
DeleteI really appreciate your wisdom Rebecca.... thank you for sharing your heart here on this topic. I needed this. <3
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, Rebecca. As a pastor's wife for 18 years, I also can confess to the temptation to drift. Once we were out of the pastorate, it was very tempting to drift when we were not locked into a schedule. We have had to remind ourselves that drifting is not good for us and committment to a local church is important. This is easier because we love our church so much and we formed habits of committment early in life, but still as humans, we tend toward sloppiness if left unchecked! Lord, Help us! Good reminders for all of us, thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteLori, Confession is good for the soul, isn't it? And what triggered this whole line of thought was R. Warren's quote. Everywhere around us I believe we are seeing poor choices, stupid sins, and needless pain suffered by people professing to know Jesus but trying to get along w/o the weekly fellowship of a local body of believers - for whatEVER reason...
DeletePeople CAN and DO take away our "solos", but we don't have to give them our "songs"!
ReplyDeleteAs my father would say, "That will preach!" Love it.
Amen. We recently made a church change and those things are never easy. But..."where He leads me I will follow!" And hopefully with a sweet attitude left behind.
ReplyDeleteYou have made your point very clear. Let us not drift away.
ReplyDeleteNice reading.