Beautiful day out there,
today. Not a lot of wind and the
temperature is comfortable – short-sleeve weather.
We will be having a roast from
Ken’s beef and carrots and potatoes from Carla’s garden for lunch – nice to have
home grown products.
Not sure how the tomatoes are
right now, but if interested give Carla a call and she could tell you if there
is some to share.
1 Peter 4:12-13 Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though
some strange thing happened unto you:
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as
ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed,
ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
I trust you turned your clocks
back and are now on the correct time – personal feelings is they should leave it
alone, either put it on day light savings time all the time or leave it on
standard all the time, but the powers to be don’t listen to me.
There are always two stories
Carla and I enjoy sharing about the change in time. The first involves good friends who lived in
The Dalles but went to church in Hood River.
They changed their clocks, went
to bed, got up and picked up a couple of neighborhood kids and drove to Hood
River – twenty miles to the west. They
arrive at the appointed time only to find the parking lot bare, the church doors
locked and absolutely no one around – instead of moving the clocks back they
moved them ahead – they were two hours early.
There was nothing else for them
to do, but go back home. They were
always doing things a bit different and we had many laughs that we shared with
them. I asked them if they had to wake
the neighbor kids up – they said, ‘no, they were ready.’ These kids were up to hours early, waiting
for their ride to church – waiting and wanting to learn more about our Lord.
The second story actually is a
good example (at least to me) of how some people will go out of their way to
upset others.
A young man, a relatively
newcomer to the church, came into the service as we were having closing
prayer. He always came in with a
flourish, as if announcing his presence.
He took a seat; the Pastor asked
us to rise and he closed in prayer. The
young man looked around, perplexed and you could see he was embarrassed – he had
not changed his clock. That was the last
I recall seeing him.
This young man had recently
moved to The Dalles. There is a
difference between confidence and arrogance.
This young man was arrogant.
He reveled in the fact that
people would get upset with him when he told them about Jesus. His testimonies were more bragging then
humbly speaking about what God was doing in his life, he was proud of the fact
that he was ‘being persecuted for Christ’s sake.’
While I never observed his
witnessing to others, I have often seen the ‘type.’ They are quite often belligerent and get in
people’s faces. There is no subtlety, no
speaking out in love, just a confrontation that most people find offense no
matter the topic. They cannot see that
their behavior, however meaningful, does not portray a sincere desire to help
someone, only an accusatory manner that irritates them and most will respond in
a negative manner.
There are times when a no
nonsense ‘in your face’ approach to a sinner is not only appropriate but
necessary. I expect it from an
evangelist or a minister in the pulpit – and even those Street preachers that
are truly being led by the Holy Spirit.
I have a bit more problem with a
person who, when meeting someone for the first time – or at least with limited
contact, immediately goes into ‘attack mode’ with his witnessing, it is a
personal thing, but seldom have I seen the need to do so.
I have had to confront those
that give out wrong information on Jesus – but I can’t remember having to berate
or belittle them. Often times I found
there was no point in arguing – they weren’t going to listen and it just brought
me down to their level. And many times I
found that it was the setting – not so much the witnessing that caused them to
respond, often because they didn’t want others to see them as vulnerable - we
were in and I could speak with them later, or with others who had been around at
the initial contact with far less drama.
Emotions run high when talking
about God, some will attack at any mention of Him, but most will not - unless
provoked by accusatory language, which includes body language, and the tone of
the message we give. Although,
admittedly even in America that is changing.
Jesus didn’t go out to
deliberately make people mad, He went out in love to teach them who He is and
what He stood for – His more accusatory confrontations – not all as we know he
chased the money changers out of the temple with a bit of physical violence –
came from others challenging His teachings, not from a heart of trying to
understand, but to undermine Him.
He knew His message would divide
people and it was not going to bring peace – but, Jesus’, from what I read,
teaching was done from His confidence of
who He is not in an arrogant manner, but in a direct and forthright one, He was
God and His message from His love for the people.
Mathew 7:28-29 And it came to pass,
when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his
doctrine:
29 For he taught them as
one having authority, and not as the scribes.
When a police officer responds
to a call he/she learns to take charge of the situation as quickly as
possible. I learned early on that going
into most conflicts with confidence and with a low-key attitude was often enough
to get people to settle down.
As my first training officer
basically said, ‘You can always rise to a higher level of forceful behavior, but
it is difficult to come down from that level, so whenever possible start out
low-key.’ People tend to respond with
less animosity if they don’t ‘feel’ they are being threatened by our presence –
they are less defensive.
Now, to be sure, there were many
times when we had no choice but to go in and be more physically and verbally
imposing to get their attention or protect the victim. But often, just our presence and a calm
demeanor was enough to get things quieted down.
Most people responded to that
approach and as we did our investigation were more open and honest because they
felt we were being fair and listening to them.
They felt we truly wanted to resolve the situation impartially.
The same approach to sharing
Christ with others can do wonders in them actually listening to them, not
putting them on the defense but allowing the Holy Spirit to use us to
demonstrate Christ’s love.
There will always be those, no
matter how we witness to them, that will take offense. They don’t like our approach to life and will
often harass us without our saying anything.
Knowing we are Christians they will go out of their way to try and
undermine us and make our lives miserable.
There will be those that will
attack us even if our message is delivered in a loving manner with a sincere
desire to convince them that Christ loves them, He died for them.
It doesn’t happen very often, at
least right now, most people just turn away.
But there is a movement here in America where anything said about God and
His Word is going to be attacked.
If you try to quietly voice your
opinion you get shouted down and called a bigot and a hate monger. You don’t have to go out to deliberately make
people angry – satan is doing a good job of that.
But I believe the attitude of a
Christian who is witnessing to others has a great deal to do with some of the
torment. Our language, our tone of
voice, our body language AND the real reason we are telling others about Christ
can make a difference in how people respond.
If it is out of obedience, but also out of a sincere desire to share
Christ’s love – our attitude, from the heart, should portray Christ.
But
rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's
sufferings;
When we are rejected,
persecuted, accused, etc. we need to search our hearts – is it being done
because we are arrogant and proud of that persecution wearing it as a sash and
badge – beating our chest in pride proclaiming, ‘look at me, I am being
persecuted.’ Or is it being done because
we are sincerely sharing Christ out of a love for Him and a desire to give the
person an opportunity to know Christ?
The first is pride and frankly,
as far as I am concerned, worthless testimony; the other is a humble acceptance
of the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our lives – and we can rejoice with Him in
being able to help a person understand Christ – or being persecuted for His
sake.
We can rejoice because we know
that we are serving HIM, not for our own selfish reasons, and that He is using
us to help others find Him. We come to
better understand what He went through as He walked this earth teaching and
preaching in love to those that hated Him and His message.
Instead of making us fearful and
turn away from our stand, it should help us have a stronger resolve to make our
stand for Him.
Later, Art :-)
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