I have been doing a lot of thinking and praying and reading lately. I have read a few things that has really broken my heart and at the same time made me very angry. I have read several posts by people where they are "searching" for which religion to follow. That isn't the part that makes me angry. What makes me angry is that in some of these posts the writer feels as if they can't follow the rules or expectations that "Christianity" has. When I read things like this I think of how we, the body of Christ, has failed people. We have put rules and regulations on the love of Christ!
What I want to do is go hug those people and let them know that Christ loves them just as they are! There are no rules or regulations to following Christ! He loves us so much and His love is what will change us. But I promise He is a gentleman and will not do anything you do not want him to. He loves us all so very much. He loves the homeless man who may have gambled his money away and may be using drugs just as much as he loves the person who serves at church every week. God loves us all!
Growing up I had the wrong image of Christ. I grew up when pastors preached hellfire and brimstone and how if I did a, b, c I was going to hell. There were all these "rules" that I knew I could not live up to. When my parents quit going to church, I basically wrote it off for a long time. I know that God did not give up on me during those years and I am sure it broke his heart the bondage that the church had put me in. Oh, how I pray we do not continue to do that! Why does man have to taint the beauty of Christ's love?
I got involved in a really bad relationship in high school. It is funny how at the time I didn't think it was that bad, but it was during this time period that I went back to church. I basically went because my boyfriend/finance at the time went due to having a drug problem and he was looking for help to get off drugs. The church we visited changed the way I viewed God. When I walked into this church I was greeted with nothing but hugs from all these people I didn't know. I could feel the genuine love these people had through these hugs. I could see the amazing joy and peace that they had. I wanted whatever it was they had! I was finally able to truly worship God and feel his presence in that place! Wow!
The whole point of this post is to ask the church to please pray and ask God to fill us up to overflowing with his love, peace, mercy, and joy. That others who do not know him will see us in our daily lives and want what we have! Please don't add a bunch of rules and regulations to Christ's love! He died for all of us while we were still sinners! He loves us just as we are. We do not have to wear certain types of clothing to church in order for him to love us. He loves us whether we wear makeup or not. He loves us regardless of how much money we can give to the church. He loves us period! I know that once we are in a relationship with Christ He leads us and guides us and lets us know of things we are doing that aren't good for us and He also helps us give those things ups and He replaces them with Him! But I do not feel that it is the churches place to say who can and can not come. I pray that the church would accept everyone just the way they are! I pray that the church will not get caught up in their buildings and programs, no matter how great, and forget the reason Christ died and rose again!
I am reading a book by Kris Vallotton called "Developing a Supernatural Lifestyle" and in it he says, "The death of Christ paid for our sins, but it was His resurrection that gave life to our mortal bodies."
I think it is a reminder to us to live in the life Christ gave us! We always talk about how Christ died for our sins, but we also need to let people know he didn't stay in the grave, he conquered it! We need people to know just how Awesome and Big our God is! Just how POWERFUL He is! He isn't a small god that can only do what we ask him to do. He is a Holy God and will do more than we can ever think or imagine! How cool is that?
I pray that we all just fall head over heels in love with Jesus! That we wouldn't worry about "religion" and the rules/regulations that usually come with that. I pray we just love Jesus with all that we are and we let him love us back! I pray that we never forget what an awesome and powerful God he is! and that He loves us so much!
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