Tony and I had a great talk last night. One that was long overdue.
"What do you suppose keeps us from doing what God wants us to do?" I said. Tony was pretty blunt, but truthful. "Well," he replied, "we probably get our feelings hurt, get prideful and then we pout."
Do you suppose that's true? Have you ever laid hands on someone to pray only to wonder if you sound like a complete and utter idiot? Does God really listen, does He hear, does He answer? What if He doesn't, then what, are we bad Christians?
Have you ever thought you heard the voice of God speak to you, but you pass it off as your own voice? If I said "God told me", would I be questioned? Will someone think I'm strange, I mean really what would they think? Especially since they know who I used to be?
Do you ever want to just be free, to dance, to sing, to shout AMEN, or to ask questions but don't because people might say something about you, or look at you funny? Maybe it's your own family, spouse, children, best friends. Why do you suppose they do it in the first place. Do you think they really believe it's strange to be close to God? Do you ever want to find out what God really wants for your life, but it just wouldn't be "cool" or "professional" to try to find out.
Tony and I have been going to the same loud, outgoing, free church for nearly 9 years. We've listened to sermon after sermon about being free, allowing ourselves to worship God openly without fear...yet we look around, is anyone watching?
Does it matter?
We had just been to Tony's Grandfather's funeral, and I said, "do you suppose the priest felt silly praying or doing the funeral? Do you suppose he worried about what people thought of him?" Tony looked at me funny and said "no". I said "why not, do you suppose it's because he knows he's a priest?" Tony was obviously puzzled. I continued, "Well, what I'm getting at is he knew that his job is to be a priest, to give sermons, to do funerals, to tell people about Jesus. People don't find it strange because that's his job, he get's paid for it. He can't just stop doing it, because it's his job. Well, he could, but then he wouldn't get paid. But you and I, we are just normal people, we don't have a title, people wonder what it is we preach Jesus for, and it's strange to explain."
Do we know what our title is? If we really understood Christ, would we have questions like this?
Why doesn't everyone want to talk about Christ? What is it about Christ that is so controversial? Something that stands for something so beautiful, has to be such a debate.
"What do you suppose keeps us from doing what God wants us to do?" I said. Tony was pretty blunt, but truthful. "Well," he replied, "we probably get our feelings hurt, get prideful and then we pout."
Do you suppose that's true? Have you ever laid hands on someone to pray only to wonder if you sound like a complete and utter idiot? Does God really listen, does He hear, does He answer? What if He doesn't, then what, are we bad Christians?
Have you ever thought you heard the voice of God speak to you, but you pass it off as your own voice? If I said "God told me", would I be questioned? Will someone think I'm strange, I mean really what would they think? Especially since they know who I used to be?
Do you ever want to just be free, to dance, to sing, to shout AMEN, or to ask questions but don't because people might say something about you, or look at you funny? Maybe it's your own family, spouse, children, best friends. Why do you suppose they do it in the first place. Do you think they really believe it's strange to be close to God? Do you ever want to find out what God really wants for your life, but it just wouldn't be "cool" or "professional" to try to find out.
Tony and I have been going to the same loud, outgoing, free church for nearly 9 years. We've listened to sermon after sermon about being free, allowing ourselves to worship God openly without fear...yet we look around, is anyone watching?
Does it matter?
We had just been to Tony's Grandfather's funeral, and I said, "do you suppose the priest felt silly praying or doing the funeral? Do you suppose he worried about what people thought of him?" Tony looked at me funny and said "no". I said "why not, do you suppose it's because he knows he's a priest?" Tony was obviously puzzled. I continued, "Well, what I'm getting at is he knew that his job is to be a priest, to give sermons, to do funerals, to tell people about Jesus. People don't find it strange because that's his job, he get's paid for it. He can't just stop doing it, because it's his job. Well, he could, but then he wouldn't get paid. But you and I, we are just normal people, we don't have a title, people wonder what it is we preach Jesus for, and it's strange to explain."
Do we know what our title is? If we really understood Christ, would we have questions like this?
Why doesn't everyone want to talk about Christ? What is it about Christ that is so controversial? Something that stands for something so beautiful, has to be such a debate.
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