Wednesday 3 February 2016

To or from God?

To or from God?
“An aged man, whom Abraham hospitality invited to his tent, refused to join him in prayer to the one spiritual God.  Learning that he was a fire-worshipper.   Abraham drove him from his door.  That night God appeared to Abraham in a vision and said: ‘I have borne with that ignorant man for seventy years: could you not have patiently suffered him one night?”
                                                                                                               The Talmud
The Talmud while Jewish book and not Christian make an interesting point here Christians need to consider. Do we draw people to Christ or push them away?
Jesus said,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 
                                                                         Matthew 28:18-20.
This is the job of every Christian. If we are doing less than this we are not doing our job. If we are judging and not “making a person feel welcome” in our churches then we are pushing them away.
I like to use the so called “gay experience” with churches for lack of a better term. Many gay men and women and indeed many in the LGBT community would not darken the doors of most churches. If they do they remain incognito and never speak about their sexuality. Not that it’s any concern to those in the Church. That is between the person and God.
God knows why you are like you are. The Psalmist writing,
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” 
                                                                                Psalm 139:13-16.
The job of the Christian as I have stated is to reach the world for Christ and not judge it. We are to be accepting of all people. We are called to love God, our neighbours and even our enemies.
Martin Luther King jr. said,
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”
                                                                                          Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
                                               John 3:16.
This is the message Christians are to take to the world and we cannot do this without showing love to those around us. We need to be accepting of those that we may disagree with.
For it is only then that we can spread the gospel message.
Please think about it. 

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