Please indulge me a little and allow me to speak somewhat hypocritically. I have been really brought down in the past few weeks. Mostly it has been due to twitter and Facebook. A recurring conversation in my mind and with my wife has been, "I really want to delete my Facebook and twitter." We both agree that this could be a real blessing. However, (and yes, this is an excuse) many of the people of my church and the friends that we have left in Texas are on Facebook and it provides a way of connecting and engaging with people, the church, and culture. However, it is a double-edged sword. I've been wanting to deactivate my Facebook account for two years. I'm still on the fence about it. Anyway as I find my way back to my point, I have been really brought down by social media the past few weeks. The Chick-fil-a issue has been one of those things (don't read that statement and assume you know where I land on that issue, and no I'm not telling...yet). But also there are some of my friends on Facebook who spend their entire time tearing down and being extremely critical of the church. I will say more about that in the future. it has just seemed to me that everything I tend to read on these avenues has been negative, vicious, and cynical. I need a break from that. And I realize that this entire paragraph is negative.
And so here I go on the roundabout!
Jesus faced great critics, great sinners, and was forever surrounded by liars, sick, demon-possessed, ignorant, manipulative, and persecuting people. And yet...he did not give in to the negativity. He stayed positive for the sake of the Kingdom and His father. You know we can learn a thing or two from Jesus. Life is imperfect and predictably broken, dark, and awful at times. However, we are to be the light in that darkness. We are to be the healers within that brokenness. We are to be the awe that is surrounded by the awful. If Christians are simply the same as the world our message is weak. If we join the complaints of the world our burden becomes like that of the Israelites in the wilderness and it is a burden that cries out for slavery and bondage when freedom is the promise. Our burden should be that even while we are on earth where things have taken a alternate route from God's ideal, we live with the Holy Spirit in our heart connecting us to Christians all over the world. Our burden is a message of hope, reconciliation, and love. Our burden is not perfection, but redemption.
I am redeemed
I am accepted
I am loved
I am healed
I am sheltered
I am sustained
I am forgiven
I am a light
I am an extension of grace
I am HIs
AND SO ARE YOU!!!!!
Lay down negativity and live in the Light of God. It doesn't mean it will all go the way you plan and life will be easy. It doesn't mean we won't mourn, lament and feel the troubles of the world. It won't mean we will smile all day as we walk on rainbows and eat nutritious cotton candy.
It will mean we will have a perspective that is other-worldly. A sightline that looks through the negative to the positive and our hope (read expectation) is in the one who makes all things new and will restore all of creation.
When it seems I'm drowning in life's negativity, yes I can deactivate Facebook or delete my twitter. Or I can shine my light not so my stance can be heard, but so Jesus can be seen.
And so here I go on the roundabout!
Jesus faced great critics, great sinners, and was forever surrounded by liars, sick, demon-possessed, ignorant, manipulative, and persecuting people. And yet...he did not give in to the negativity. He stayed positive for the sake of the Kingdom and His father. You know we can learn a thing or two from Jesus. Life is imperfect and predictably broken, dark, and awful at times. However, we are to be the light in that darkness. We are to be the healers within that brokenness. We are to be the awe that is surrounded by the awful. If Christians are simply the same as the world our message is weak. If we join the complaints of the world our burden becomes like that of the Israelites in the wilderness and it is a burden that cries out for slavery and bondage when freedom is the promise. Our burden should be that even while we are on earth where things have taken a alternate route from God's ideal, we live with the Holy Spirit in our heart connecting us to Christians all over the world. Our burden is a message of hope, reconciliation, and love. Our burden is not perfection, but redemption.
I am redeemed
I am accepted
I am loved
I am healed
I am sheltered
I am sustained
I am forgiven
I am a light
I am an extension of grace
I am HIs
AND SO ARE YOU!!!!!
Lay down negativity and live in the Light of God. It doesn't mean it will all go the way you plan and life will be easy. It doesn't mean we won't mourn, lament and feel the troubles of the world. It won't mean we will smile all day as we walk on rainbows and eat nutritious cotton candy.
It will mean we will have a perspective that is other-worldly. A sightline that looks through the negative to the positive and our hope (read expectation) is in the one who makes all things new and will restore all of creation.
When it seems I'm drowning in life's negativity, yes I can deactivate Facebook or delete my twitter. Or I can shine my light not so my stance can be heard, but so Jesus can be seen.
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