There are at least two "church" sentences that tend to scare me. The first is: "Jesus spoke to me." That one always gets me, not because I don’t think that Jesus can speak to folks, I’m just not sure that he does. An older man from church told me he is writing a letter he wants to read to the assembly saying that Jesus had talked to him so he wants to share the message. I told him I’d think it over, but would love to read the message beforehand. (Actually, I’m just hoping he will forget about it, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.)
The second sentence is "I have grown so much this last year" or its sister phrase: "I have really matured as a Christian…" I hear this often, especially when said person wants to tell me what I’m doing wrong. Now I know I do a lot of stuff wrong (see my Evendays_confession_just_kidding.org), but it seems obvious that if someone has grown in Christ significantly the last few months, that they wouldn’t have to tell me how much they’d grown. Rather, I would see it and tell them how radically they’d changed.
It gets even more interesting when someone comes to you and tells that Jesus told them how much they’d grown.
Be humble my friends. Do listen to Jesus. But be discreet about all the stuff. At least try to be discreet.
Hello Brady,
I haven’t written on here in a long time, but Jesus spoke to me and He wanted me to tell you…. hahaha Ok, seriously I know better than to joke around like that, especially since I grown a lot in my faith this year. ;o)
This time I am serious….Our bodies are much older than our faith. While some people have lived on this planet longer than me, that does not always mean they have a closer/stronger relationship with God. Be patient with these young believers because they do not always understand what they do or say.
Is this what Jesus wants me to say or is this what I want to say and I think Jesus would agree with me? Which one is it?
I do agree that we need to listen to Jesus, but we also need to becareful about what we are saying and doing. There are lot of faiths that believe Jesus exist and even did miraclous things, but they do not all say that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected. All those prophets and faith starters, that are not Christian, also said that God spoke to them in some way. Clearly, it is not always the same God that is talking, if they do not all agree that Jesus is the Savior of their sins. Even in the church, we can get carried away with ourselves and may get destructive with other followers and church leaders. For the man that wants to read his letter, have him keep praying about it, if he brings it up. If God wants it to be read, it will be read! Sometimes we just need to live out the message that Jesus spoke to us about, instead of reading it in front of the church. I may not remember your letter, but I will remember what you did.
Every time I think I have grown or matured in the faith, something happens pretty soon to make me know I’ve still got a lot of growing and maturing to do.
Couldn’t agree more. What always made me cringe when I was preaching was that certain person or persons (every church has them) who would tell me what a good job I was doing … BUT … and then proceed to just skin me alive with criticism.
That said, I would like to brag (if I may) on just how humble I’ve become lately!
Had a guy come by our church the other night. He told me a pastor of another church had told him that “Jesus had told him” that he (the guy who came by the church) had been given a “special anointing” of the Holy Spirit.
Then with his next breath he told me he had been fired from his last job and needed money.