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It seems to be a theme that God won't give up on...I'm not in control. It's a theme I loath if I'm to be honest and it's also a theme that covers every single area of my life.
I'm not in control of what my children say or do. I'm not in control of what others feel or say about me. I'm not in control of whether my influence really makes a difference in your life. I'm not in control of the driver next to me. I'm not in control of the woman who always seems to say hurtful things to me. I'm not in control of women healing and growing. I'm not in control of parents respecting their children, or even parenting them. I'm not even in control of me at times. I'm not in control of God's plans. I'm simply not in control.
I think we are fooling ourselves if we say we "have control of the situation" and I also think we are fooling ourselves if we say "it's out of my control". There's got to be a middle ground. There is.
The more I relinquish my control, the more controlled things become. It's not because God is controlling, it's because the path becomes less wide with less things that are out of control. But giving up control is hard. Letting someone else be in control is even harder. So we have to decide, sometimes moment to moment, who IS in control if it's not me?
I don't follow God because it's easy. I don't follow God because I have to. I don't follow God because it's the right thing to do. I don't follow God because someone says to. I follow God because I need to. Because I'm a control freak who hates the truth that I'm not in control and if I'm not in control then SOMEONE needs to be and there's not another being out there I trust more than God so.....I'm not in control, but God is...because I let him ;)
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Fat Christians
I think the worst excuse a person can give for leaving their church is "we're just not being fed there any more"...seriously, THE WORST! Though I must admit no one has ever said that directly to my face, which is probably a good thing. However, if they did my response back would be "because you're already too fat".
When I first became a Christian, I mean really actually following God not just saying I believed in God, I couldn't get enough information. It was like a new world opened up to me and I was trying desperately to take it all in. And then something happened. I plateaued. I remember leaving church and feeling like I didn't really get a lot out of the sermon. Hearing stories that I'd heard before. Singing songs I already knew. I noticed that I'd lost that passion somewhere along the way and now was just going through the motions. And then the thought crept in, "time to move on".
One of the names of Satan is Father of lies...."time to move on" is a lie straight from his mouth into our mind. How do I know it's a lie? How did I figure out that the problem wasn't that I wasn't being fed any longer, I wasn't growing any longer? I admitted out loud how I was feeling. I sought to figure out what was going on. I fought back with Truth. I stood my ground instead of going on my feelings.
If you believe you aren't being fed any more at your church let me challenge you with the same question that was presented to me...."what are you doing to help other Christians grow?" Be honest with your answer. Just being a greeter on Sunday morning doesn't make the list, just so you know.
We get fat when we are taking in more than we are putting out....we all understand that. Eat and don't work it off equals flab on the body. Well, soak in all the God stuff and don't turn around and share that with others equals flab on the heart. Jesus tells us to "go and make disciples"....he didn't say that to just certain people, that's a commission given to us ALL. So again I ask you, what are you doing to help other Christians grow? Maybe you should examine that before blaming your church for you being fat...after all, McDonald's doesn't make you fat, you eating McDonald's makes you fat.
When I first became a Christian, I mean really actually following God not just saying I believed in God, I couldn't get enough information. It was like a new world opened up to me and I was trying desperately to take it all in. And then something happened. I plateaued. I remember leaving church and feeling like I didn't really get a lot out of the sermon. Hearing stories that I'd heard before. Singing songs I already knew. I noticed that I'd lost that passion somewhere along the way and now was just going through the motions. And then the thought crept in, "time to move on".
One of the names of Satan is Father of lies...."time to move on" is a lie straight from his mouth into our mind. How do I know it's a lie? How did I figure out that the problem wasn't that I wasn't being fed any longer, I wasn't growing any longer? I admitted out loud how I was feeling. I sought to figure out what was going on. I fought back with Truth. I stood my ground instead of going on my feelings.
If you believe you aren't being fed any more at your church let me challenge you with the same question that was presented to me...."what are you doing to help other Christians grow?" Be honest with your answer. Just being a greeter on Sunday morning doesn't make the list, just so you know.
We get fat when we are taking in more than we are putting out....we all understand that. Eat and don't work it off equals flab on the body. Well, soak in all the God stuff and don't turn around and share that with others equals flab on the heart. Jesus tells us to "go and make disciples"....he didn't say that to just certain people, that's a commission given to us ALL. So again I ask you, what are you doing to help other Christians grow? Maybe you should examine that before blaming your church for you being fat...after all, McDonald's doesn't make you fat, you eating McDonald's makes you fat.
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