In The Dash- Held And Release

I have hurt a lot of people in my life.  My pride and selfishness have caused pain for others as well as myself.  I have held grudges and put up walls in relationships.  I have learned both in hurting and being hurt that hurt people, hurt people.

During one season of my life God stripped me of all pride and I was left with nothing other than offering grace and forgiveness to others and requesting it in return.  Nothing will set you more free than asking for forgiveness of those you have hurt and letting go and forgiving those who have hurt you.

I have asked to be fully released from those all the way back to high school and I have had to fully release others…even if they did not offer it…Its hard, but it’s healthy and its the right thing to do.

 

ACTION STEP:

◊ Fully release those who have hurt you and ask for forgiveness of those who you have hurt.  

In The Dash- Relational Witness

In college we had a program called “Friday Night Witnessing.”  Every Friday large amounts of students would take to the streets and tell people about Jesus.  One particular night I knocked on a door and my life was threatened, and needless to say my night ended early.

I eventually got a job working on Fridays.  Every Friday night I would get a rush of people in late and one night I asked why they were always there so late and their reply was, “So the witnessing kids from college won’t be out.”  It hit me; we were making an impact, just not a positive one.

For me building relationships with people and walking with them towards and through their journey of faith has been most effective.  It takes time, it’s uncomfortable but in the end relationships are not easy but are worth the work.

 

ACTION STEP:

◊  Share your faith with everyone you have a relationship with.  

Political Religion

There is a phrase that is used by many churches all over the world.  “It’s all about relationships and not religion.” I wonder what an unchurched person thinks when they hear that?  I wonder what those who have gone before us think about that statement?  I personally love the statement.  I love the meaning behind it because I know the meaning behind it.

It truly is all about a relationship with Jesus Christ and a relationship with others.  Building community between us and God and us and others.  It’s a very powerful and relevant statement.

It is not about religion, or is it?  I get what the statement is saying.  It’s not about the politics and the rules and the regulations.  It’s not about a list of do’s and dont’s.  It’s not about guilting people into a relationship with Christ.  However, for me I want to be careful that I just don’t throw out religion.

I work with people who are “religious” and they have questioned my thought process on this statement.  Many have shared a concern that when you say it is not about religion that you close doors to share about the relationship aspect of it.  Many are turned off when in one statement you marginalize potentially everything they have been taught to believe.  Perhaps they are right.

So many people, organizations and institutions have spilled blood, sweat and tears all in the name of religious freedom.  All of them have done that to give me the freedom to serve in a local church and share about a relationship with Jesus.  Christianity is a religion.  The church is a religious institution.  Christ died for everyone.  Christ died for those who would sit in a church and worship Him.  Christ died for those who would stand outside of a church and mock Him.  Christ died for everyone.

I think it is important to honor the past.  I think it is important to honor past spiritual giants. True some of the things in the past have hurt peoples perception of the church and Christ today.  However there is a negative past to almost every organization but does that mean you burn the history and forget where you came from?  Not saying anybody or any organization does that, it’s just a thought.

For me the statement goes like this in my head: It’s about relationships and not the politics of religion. For me it is about some aspects of religion.  The good parts of religion.  The parts that give me freedom not the parts that keep me in bondage of rules.  I’m not here to argue semantics, but it’s just a thought.

What’s your thoughts?

Catalyst East 2009: Reggie Joyner

Inverted Christianity

This was an incredibly insightful post from Mark Batterson that you need to read.

Two thousand years ago Jesus extended an unbelievable invitation: “follow me.” And the invitation is still on the table. But let me drill down on this a little bit. I think there are lots of people who think they have accepted the invitation. They think they are following Jesus. But the reality is that they have invited Jesus to follow them. And there is a world of difference!

For the first nineteen years of my life, if I’m being totally honest, I think it was more about Jesus following me. I didn’t want to go anywhere without him. But it wasn’t about me serving His purposes. It was about Him serving my purposes. I think many Christians have an inverted relationship with Christ. Call it spiritual selfishness. Our relationship with Him is all about us. And then we wonder why we’re unfulfilled and bored with our faith.

Are you following Jesus? Or is Jesus following you?