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As Christians it is very important that we carefully pick our battles.
There are plenty of squabbles we can get into in this spiritual battle
we engage in. But how much time, energy and resources are we going
to be willing to sacrifice to them when there is a battle for souls going
on?!
As we grow in our Christian
walk, we will never be in the same place spiritually as everyone else.
That is a great thing when we need encouragement or teaching or even correcting-
there will be someone who has been our way before to help us out.
And we are able to use whatever we have been through to help out others.
It's a great plan!
How would the enemy (satan)
destroy that plan? I can think of no better way than to cause these
soldiers (you and I) to disagree on some minor points that in the whole
scheme of eternity make no difference. That very disagreement then
could be nurtured and grown into a full fledged battle, so that neither
is able to help or be helped by the other. Not only that, but the
BIG battle wages on with these arguing soldiers becoming more and more
unaware if the souls being lost.
Let me site a hypothetical
situation:
Jane and Tammy have
been friends for years. They have gone to Bible studies together
and helped witness to unsaved friends together. They have prayed
for each other in time of distress and in times of praise.
But whenever the question
of forgiveness comes up, they
disagree, and don't spend as much time together as they had in the past.
Eventually, things kind of blow over, and they are back to working and
praying together.
Then a mutual friend,
Kathy, turns up pregnant and unmarried. the woman is one of their
Christian friends, and they are shocked.
Tammy insists that Kathy
not be allowed back in their Bible study group because of the image the
group has to portray. Kathy has asked the group for their support
and forgiveness. She is planning on
keeping the baby and is very lonely and scared.
Tammy feels that Kathy
has asked forgiveness only because she is
scared and not because she is truly sorry. Tammy is afraid of what
the group's witness will be to the unsaved they have been working with
if Kathy is allowed to stay.
Jane agrees that the group
does have to keep the image of Christ foremost. Her perception of
Kathy is that she needs their friendship and it doesn't really matter why
she asked for forgiveness- that she asked
for it and as Christians, they are to love her.
Jane and Tammy agree on
every point except what they see as Kathy's motivation for asking for forgiveness.
Is her motivation really the issue? Or is her soul the issue?
In the process of the
arguing, Kathy found out about the turmoil, and left the group in order
to not be the cause of distress. She continues to seek out Christian
friends and did have her baby and is raising her in the Lord.
Because of the situation
with the Bible study group, unsaved friends of Tammy, Jane and of Kathy's
were turned off by Christianity. Each of the three Christian women
lost their credibility as Christians to their unsaved friends.
~~~~
Here are my questions
then:
What was the battle over?
Kingdom problems or church
problems?
Why were the unsaved friends
lost?
Was it a kingdom problem
or a church problem?
The following passages
are from the mouth of Jesus Christ.
The first, He is talking
to Peter and notice He gives him the keys to the church or the kingdom?
What He is telling Peter is very important to us now. We need to
be very very aware of what we have the keys to. I believe the whole
issue boils down to that of salvation. Read and see what you think:
Matt 6:18-19
And I tell you that
you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of
Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
If we use what God has
given us to control what we think ought to be- we will miss
the point and lose the war. We can spend all we have in artillery
on a minor point that has NOTHING to do with a person's salvation, and
forget to lead that person to the Lord.
~~~
Matt 13:44
"The kingdom of heaven
is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again,
and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
We are to be willing to
give our whole life to the building of the kingdom of God. We can't
let anything deter us. If we begin to nitpick at every minor detail,
we will soon be building a new denomination of our own. God never
told us to build a mold for all Christians to fit in. It is not about
our personal preferences - it is about the Kingdom of God. Thank
God He didn't leave it up to us- because we would never all find one thing
to agree on! We have a hard enough time agreeing on what He has told
us!
Luke 6:32-35
"If you love
those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those
who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to
you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And
if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that
to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full.
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting
to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons
of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
If we decide who we are
willing to witness to and/or to help...or even who we are willing to work
with in His work...then we have become the one who gives only to the one
who can give back. That is not what Christ has called us to be.
(Some one told me that
"if you give to someone who cannot give back to you, then you have become
a kingdom worker. If you give to someone who can give back to you,
then you have joined a network!)
I challenge us all
to be very aware of who Christ leads us to witness to and/or work with
. We may very well let some minor personality clash stop us from
being obedient to Him!
I have chosen butterflies
for this page for a reason. I want them to remind me that if I chose
to only help or work with the people I would chose (beautiful butterflies),
then any poor soul that Christ has sent my way, that I may be leery of (the ugly
caterpillar), will never be fed by me, and is in danger of never being saved.
(becoming the butterfly).
My friend Gatekeeper has written a great
page with a similar,but true, story about
Paul
and Barnabas-
I encourage you to read it too!
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