March 31^st, we will be happier with April 1^st, hopefully the wind won’t be blowing so we can burn.  Right now, its’ blowing, the sky is grey with a chance of rain and the extended forecast is for rain the next few days.

Never fails, huh?

Luke 6:22-26 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

²³ Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

²⁴ But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.

²⁵ Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.

²⁶ Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

We have all been around Christians who seem to want to have people hate them; in fact they are proud of that fact because they believe that this verse supports them.  They will testify in Church about how they are being attacked and use it as a badge of accomplishment.

While I cannot question motives, I have to wonder if they are truly trying to present God’s Word to people so they will understand the importance of Salvation through Christ, or just promoting their own self-importance?

Are they sincere in their desire to present the Gospel, following the leading of the Holy Spirit, or more interested in making themselves a target so they can self-righteously claim they are being ostracized and being called ‘evil’?

How do we preach salvation without pointing out we are all sinners and the only way we can come to God is through confession of those sins and acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice, without drawing animosity?

The answer is simple, we can’t.

However, we must search our hearts and determine we are following the leading of the Holy Spirit and not our own brand of ‘religion.’

If a Christian lives a life as righteously as he possibly can, he is going to have detractors.  He is going to have those that say we think we are better than them.

We often exclude ourselves from associates’ activities because we are not comfortable with their lifestyle – and we are looked at as weird or not sociable.  We may like them, we may work well with them, we may share common ground with them, but we know that we cannot allow ourselves to participate in certain activities, or if we do, we must be careful to not let down on our witness for Christ.

As with most organizations the Sheriffs had many conferences and workshops.  Those meetings would take place over a few days several times a year.  The conferences were designed to give these men information about new laws, procedures or other things affecting their Offices.

Representatives from other agencies we worked with – Chiefs of Police, the State Police and other state organizations, Federal agencies that worked with us would come in and we would share thoughts and concerns.  We met with Governors and other high ranking officials to share information and learn how we could best serve the citizens of our state.

After the meetings different companies would sponsor a hosted bar in their hospitality rooms.

They provide drinks and appetizers and Sheriffs and other officials would go there to socialize and exchange information.  The alcoholic drinks were free, were strong and there were those that imbibed a bit too much during the evening.

It is important to get to know each other on a personal as well as a professional level so that when you need advice or assistance your peers know who you are and are more willing to accommodate you.  You also can discuss issues in more depth and often in a more relevant manner at these events.

Time during the meetings was always limited so we could get as much business done as possible; therefore most of the information was general.  The hospitality rooms, going out to dinner or other social time gave time to be more detailed.

I went to the hospitality rooms.  However, if I could not consume a soft drink from a can, I didn’t consume anything. 

It was important to make the connection and still maintain my witness as a Christian.  I was never challenged about that, everyone had pretty much heard my testimony and they accepted and respected it.  It didn’t seem to hurt my relationships with these men and I wouldn’t have cared if it had.

I know that some Christians, when they heard about my interaction and where it took place, were unhappy with me, they felt that I had jeopardized my witness.  They felt that by going to the rooms I was condoning the behavior, especially since I didn’t speak out against the drinking.

I believed my actions spoke of my Christianity.  We don’t live in a vacuum, I had a lot of opportunities to share my faith with these men and I took them.  I felt that, for me, to go into these rooms and have fellowship with these men was part of my witness for Christ as well as doing my job as Sheriff.  I based that feeling on Christ’s fellowship with sinners.

Luke 5:29-32 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.

³⁰ But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?

³¹ And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.

³² I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

I do want to be careful about this, there were many social events I did not and do not attend because of the use of alcohol or for other reasons.  With those events I did attend I did/do not make an issue of not drinking, I just don’t drink anything that can be misinterpreted. 

We know that makes some people nervous and uncomfortable and many excluded me from certain meetings/celebrations because of my not drinking – and many because of my stand for Christ.  Did that hurt me politically?  Maybe, but I didn’t care.

I bring this up, not trying to pat myself on the back, but as an introduction as to what happened in those meetings with other Sheriffs.

A few years after I was elected and had been going to these meetings one of the support staff came up to me and shared his conversation with another Sheriff.

The Sheriff was a Christian, but he was also an alcoholic.  He would attend the hospitality rooms and feeling he had to be one of the boys, he drank alcoholic beverages.  Because of his addiction he would drink to excess and then berate himself for doing it.

We have to remember that abuse of alcohol is a sin, but like all sins satan likes to use it against us – when a Christian is vulnerable satan must wring his hands in glee as he helps him fall.

This Sheriff felt guilty for drinking and guilty for what it did to his Christian testimony.  The person talking to me said that he pointed me out to the Sheriff and said something like, Art too is a Christian, he doesn’t drink and he is well accepted.

It helped that Sheriff and he never felt he had to drink at these functions again.

When I left office fully half the Sheriffs did not drink alcohol at these hospitality rooms.  Soft drinks became the dominant drink in the rooms.  I don’t claim to have caused that to happen, but I do know that at least one Sheriff understood my stand and joined me.

We want to share the Gospel of Christ.  There will be those that turn against us; that will condemn us for our lifestyle in Christ.  They will berate and try to undermine us anyway they can.  I have had that happened to me.

Gossip and out and out lies will be told about us because of our stand in Christ.  If we are not suffering for our stand for Christ in some manner we need to evaluate what we are doing and saying – HOWEVER, we should not be going out to deliberately confront people so we can claim virtue by way of their anger.

Christ did not hesitate to confront those that challenged him, but He also presented the Word with calm authority that astounded those that heard Him.  His LOVE of people showed through in all that He did.  His desire to have people follow His teachings and come to believe on Him as THE Christ was done with that love, not hatred towards those that committed sins.

In the end, God uses our skills and personalities to present the
Gospel to others.  Some of us are boisterous while others are very quiet; He enables us to serve Him no matter what kind of personality we have.

What we want to do is follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance – there are times for confrontations and there are times for quietly extolling Christ.  We need to make sure whatever methods we use, it is not being done to massage our own egos, but done under His directions to Glorify God.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again