For Him or for me?
Sometimes (more often than not), my husband will say something that rings so loud and clear that I almost stop right there and shout. Sometimes they are things I want to hear and sometimes they aren't. More often than not, they are things we both need conviction about and he randomly delivers these meaning-packed phrases of truth in a way that shocks me into noticing their harsh difference from our surrounding conversation. Tonight was one of those times.
He was going to bed and I was going to do homework (night shift, day shift, we get off schedule sometimes) and we were getting our pillow talk out before I went back to the kitchen. We talked about a few things and then we started talking about the Kingdom of God and how things seem one way to us and a completely different way to others. This happens in many arenas of our lives but it can be seen in many of the different doctrines of churches. These differences are the reason we have divisions, denominations and conventions dividing the Kingdom of God.
Then Billy said, "In the heat of an argument, it stops being about what's good for God's church and becomes about why I'm right."
He might as well have thrown some cold, wet bologna on me face. That is how I felt sitting there. I may not have expressed it and, thankfully, there was no bologna on my face but it felt that alarming. (May be a strange comparison but I can't stand the way processed sandwich meat feels...yuck).
I have had so very many conversations about The Lord and different churches I have visited. I have wasted entire lunches and car rides talking about my observations and what makes me so angry or so happy. How many of those times was I enthused over the true issues within the church? Or how many times was I enthused to clarify just how right I was?
In my astute and invaluable opinions of these things (sarcasm implied), how frequently is it because I genuinely care about how the Church is affected over my desire to be right about a doctrine/teaching/worship style?
Apart from what is written in scripture and woven within the being of Jesus Christ, no one has written the perfect doctrine. Every church has their interpretation but that is all it is: an interpretation. There are some that are wrong and do cause frustration but it is not always my place to comment. Unless it is absolutely blasphemous or detrimental to the Kingdom of God, I need to respect other's interpretations. I am not saying it is wrong to disagree with someone or something but what I am realizing is that I really need to take a look at myself before I open my big mouth.
Am I fighting and arguing so hard because injustice is taking place? Because God has been misrepresented? Or because I want to be right?
"If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:11 NIV)"
He was going to bed and I was going to do homework (night shift, day shift, we get off schedule sometimes) and we were getting our pillow talk out before I went back to the kitchen. We talked about a few things and then we started talking about the Kingdom of God and how things seem one way to us and a completely different way to others. This happens in many arenas of our lives but it can be seen in many of the different doctrines of churches. These differences are the reason we have divisions, denominations and conventions dividing the Kingdom of God.
Then Billy said, "In the heat of an argument, it stops being about what's good for God's church and becomes about why I'm right."
He might as well have thrown some cold, wet bologna on me face. That is how I felt sitting there. I may not have expressed it and, thankfully, there was no bologna on my face but it felt that alarming. (May be a strange comparison but I can't stand the way processed sandwich meat feels...yuck).
I have had so very many conversations about The Lord and different churches I have visited. I have wasted entire lunches and car rides talking about my observations and what makes me so angry or so happy. How many of those times was I enthused over the true issues within the church? Or how many times was I enthused to clarify just how right I was?
In my astute and invaluable opinions of these things (sarcasm implied), how frequently is it because I genuinely care about how the Church is affected over my desire to be right about a doctrine/teaching/worship style?
Apart from what is written in scripture and woven within the being of Jesus Christ, no one has written the perfect doctrine. Every church has their interpretation but that is all it is: an interpretation. There are some that are wrong and do cause frustration but it is not always my place to comment. Unless it is absolutely blasphemous or detrimental to the Kingdom of God, I need to respect other's interpretations. I am not saying it is wrong to disagree with someone or something but what I am realizing is that I really need to take a look at myself before I open my big mouth.
Am I fighting and arguing so hard because injustice is taking place? Because God has been misrepresented? Or because I want to be right?
"If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:11 NIV)"
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