Here comes the Judge!

A little boy was waiting for his mother to come out of the grocery Store.
As he waited, he was approached by a man who asked,
"Son, can you tell me where the Post Office is?"

The little boy replied, "Sure! Just go straight down this street a coupla blocks and turn to your right."

The man thanked the boy kindly and said, “I'm the new pastor in town.  I'd like for you to come to church on Sunday.  I'll show you how to get to Heaven."

The little boy replied with a chuckle. "Awww, come on...
You don't even know the way to the Post Office." 

Have you ever been in that situation? Someone that was new to the town or the area stops and asks directions to a place, and you tell them how to get there. Then when that someone tries to offer you a kindness in return, your kindness goes out the window. On the other hand, you are so "hoity-toity" (if you don’t know that one, email me) that you can’t believe that someone who asked you something had the nerve to offer teach you something else.
People often judge us on our first reactions. Your first reaction would have been one of kindness. You told them how to get to their destination. They automatically become at ease with you since you seemed to be friendly.
Then all of a sudden you say something hurtful to their offer of kindness, either out of ignorance or lack of consideration for how others feel. The avenue that you opened up initially is gone. Chances are the person will just walk away, count their blessings that they escaped and possibly never speak to you again.
You may say, "Well, they shouldn’t wear their feelings on their sleeves."
Yes, maybe they shouldn’t. But we are all human. (Unless there is an alien reading this. Then contact me at my information listed in the profile please. I have a million questions to ask of you, and I won’t be hurtful in my answers. <wink>) And we have to remind ourselves that others are human. Sometimes that person may have had an encounter that upset them for some reason. Maybe it was a spat with their spouse. Maybe the boss is riding them because of a looming deadline. Perhaps the kids would not cooperate this morning, and they ran late, both to school and work. It could be a million things. Doesn’t really matter. What matters is our attitude.
We have to be constantly vigilant that we keep our minds focused on Christ. How would Christ act in this situation?

John 13:34 (New International Version, ©2011)
   A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Notice what Jesus said. "You MUST love one another." Not maybe. Not possibly try to and hope you’re not having a bad day. You MUST.
Now I will be the first one to admit that I have met some people who it is really hard to love. And a popular saying that I’ve heard for years is, "Love the sinner, Hate the sin." I think I know what they are trying to say. But this is not scriptural. We are to love everyone. But we are to shun the sins that anyone may commit. Although be careful. Jesus warned also:

Matthew 7:1-5 (New International Version, ©2011
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

In other words, Love That Person, no matter what. But get your own house in order. Sure, you do not have to, nor should you want to participate in their wrongdoings. But don’t beat them up over it either, especially if you have anything going on in your life that would cause someone to stumble too.
So let’s become the person that we want others to be. Let’s become Christian again. Sure, it’s hard in this day and age when you are bombarded so many times with temptations and opportunities for wrong doing. When the Christians get right in their lives, the church becomes an example of Christianity again, and Christ is restored to his place of respect in our homes, churches and communities once again. Then we can reach out to others and they will have a reason to want to be Christ-Like too.

Wednesday, a new series entitled: "You Might Be in a Country Church If ... " that looks at 14 things that we do in our churches that can be confusing, misguided or just plain wrong. I hope you enjoy it!

Sing! Sing a Song!

I have a blog earlier that I talk about listening to Christian radio and the impact that it made on me. I hope that you have read all of these blogs in order so far, because if you haven’t, you may be scratching your head or a few other places, wondering how this all fits. So if you need to, go back and review the entire blogs that I have posted. If you’re up to date, come on, let’s go explore more about music and song.

There is a book in the bible called “Psalms” that has the most chapters in it of any book in the bible. I would think that tells us that music and singing are pretty important to God. And not the same old music over and over either. Some churches get caught up in singing 20-30 hymns that they are comfortable with, and everyone can sing them from memory. Here’s where a big problem lies. The words become just that. Words. People sing them as they always have, without any enthusiasm, just hoping that the song leader will skip one of the verses. My grandfather used to tell me, “Boy, be glad you are not the third verse in a song, because most churches will skip right over you!” Sadly in our Baptist church where I was raised, this was the truth. Never figured that one out. People just wanted to sing and get it over with. Problem being, I don’t think God ever heard a word we sang. Why should He? We were bored with it, so you know He wasn’t too thrilled either.

God wants us to sing praises to Him. (see earlier blog for background). We should lift up our voices as though it was God standing in the pulpit, telling Him in our sincere voices how much we love Him, honor Him and glorify Him. It doesn’t matter if the only way you can sing on key is to stand on the set of keys that you brought with you. God listens to your heart. He listens to how you sing. Do you mean it? Are you serious in the words that are spilling forth?

I love Praise and Worship music. I also love some of the old hymns, except for one “Give me that old time religion” ([that’s the problem, some people only have religion] another blog, or maybe this one later on). I had a person tell me when I started out leading music in church that the only songs we should sing were from the Hymnal. Anything else couldn’t be from God. I opened up the bible, turned to Psalms, and told him, “If you only want songs that we know are ordained by God, I don’t think you’ll find any of those in your hymnal listed here.” He never brought that one up again. Maybe that is one thing I like about P&W. Most are Psalms that are put to music. We don’t know what music was used in the singing of the Psalms originally. And it doesn’t matter. What matters are the words! So SING! If the others around you don’t like it, bring them earplugs next Sunday. They’re cheap! Pour your heart out with a melody, or harmony, or whatever flies out between the lips.

We’ve looked at what it takes to worship, and how we can do it in our churches and our lives today. Will it be awkward at first? Probably. Will others possibly stare at you? Probably. But are you there to worship them, or are you there to worship God? If you’re there to worship God, it won’t matter what the others think. You won’t even realize anyone else is around you.

Start to worship! Start to praise! Start to pray! Let’s get back to Christianity, instead of just having church. Let’s have Christ. Let’s have ourselves be Christ like.

One thing I want to take a minute and say before I continue. Do you know the God that I have talked about? Have you ever asked God to forgive you of your sins? Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins? If not, a lot of what you have read is probably foreign to you right now. But if you feel something inside of you, tugging on you, maybe even making your tummy draw up in knots, it’s the Holy Spirit telling you it’s time. Quit trying to live life on your own. You’ve got someone who can guide you, protect you, comfort you, and give you a reason to live, not just in this world, but in the next one to come in Heaven! Do you want this for your life?

Say this prayer: (and mean what you say!)

God, I understand that I am a sinner. I want to have You in my life. I thank You for sending your only Son to die for me on the cross. I want to surrender my life to you. Please come into my life, forgive my sins, and make me a new person. I love you Lord, and I promise to praise your name forever. Amen

There. You did it. Is this the first time that you have ever prayed this? If so, you are now a Christian. See, not a church member. Church membership doesn’t have anything to do with being a Christian. As a matter of a fact, a lot of church members will never even see the Kingdom of Heaven. They have to be saved, just like what you did. Now, find a church where you can learn more about God. Make sure that it is a Christian church. Denominational or not, that is your choice. Find one where you are comfortable worshipping. There are a lot of styles out there, so keep searching until you are where you are supposed to be. And ask God to guide you to the church where you belong! That will be your first step towards learning to work with God, and not against Him. (trust me, you’ll get more accomplished.)

If I can ever be of help in any way, please feel free to contact me @ moreland.keith@yahoo.com and I will be glad to answer any of your questions, or help guide you in your journey.

God bless and until the next blog, Shalom!