Night Commuters
I was reading a story off of CNN today Entitled “Old horrors, young victims”. This story is heart wrenching in many ways. The story speaks about children in Uganda and a rebel force called Lord’s Resistance Army. They kidnap children at night from villages in efforts to make them part of their army. Apparently 30,000 children have been kidnapped over the last 10 years. One of the biggest upsets of this story for me is that someone who names themself God’s own, and calls himself a “disciple” leads this army and appartenly base it off the Ten commandments, though I don’t think I’ve read the same set of Ten commandments that they have as their behavior does not line up with them. Every night the children are forced to make a long commute to the city where they can sleep in safety.
I don’t understand by what premise a man can read the Bible and then come up with such violent behaivor and self serving motives. The Bible does say that in the End days that false prophets and “anti-christs” will come in the end days. Surely this is an example of this. Over all its an extreme for something that goes on every day for Christian churches. Its rebranding God’s truth to fit our desires. It has many forms from the “harmless” to the violent. But in the end it doesn’t serve God but oursleves. Its making God in our image and its a form of idol. From the crusades to men like the “disciple”. In truth if we call ourselves God’s own then we will take the following verse to heart.
1 John 2: 6 “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
Thing that strikes me about Jesus, was He loved everyone. The only ones he ever judged were the religous leaders of the day who attempted to get the people to follow the image of god that they had formed for themselves, propping themselves as leaders with their self important requirements for the people to follow after things that detracted from God’s ways.
Sometimes I wonder what Christ would say to us if he were to walk the halls of our churches. Would he say the extra requirements we read into the Word of God were Good. Would He say us focusing on ourselves and our own health and wealth was the right way to go? Would He say our judgment of people based on what we see was the right way to go? Some how I don’t think we’d like the answer to these questions. But that’s just me.
More information on the article I linked at “Invisible Children”
What is a bondservant?
So I was reading a friends blog today, when what he wrote got me thinking about being a bondservant. See to me my life dream and goal is really just to be a bondservant of God. That’s changed a lot over the years due to my learning and growing in my walk, but at the core its really not something I’ve deeply considered. It seems that life can overtake people very quickly. For some that means that they are overtaken by good things and some form of happiness follows. For some, a darker side of life overtakes them. Trials, struggles, fight to even survive the day out. They live day by day and check by check. And for each a form of emptyness ensues. In some ways that’s where I’ve been last few years. Just trying to make it through the day.
So what does this have to do with being a bondservant? Well it has to do with my following through on that goal and commitment that I believed so strong I put a tattoo on my skin to constantly remind me of it. I could quote scriptures and great theologians and scholars alike but it wouldn’t accurately describe being a bondservant.
Being a bondservant is walking in Jesus footsteps even when they go where you don’t want to. It isn’t being perfect or all knowing but its a committment to a path of growing, improving, and learning. Not just from man made books writen by pastors and preachers, but more over learning through the word of God and prayer. Its a dedication to rise when you fall, admit sin and stupidity and move on, not letting it hold you longer then it has. Not wallowing in regret but stepping forward and continually seeking the face of God. Its knowing and admitting your not perfect and a dedication to walking a path of repentence and submission to God through it. Its giving up your will and desires to embrace God’s. Its following God every second of every day and knowing full well that He is at your side and talking and spending time with Him even over a cup of coffe. Walking after God isn’t something done on sundays and hour long daily prayer sessions, Its communing with God as you would a friend or brother. Yeilding to the leading of the Holy Spirit and letting God teach you things by using even the annoying guy in the drive thru.
More over being a bondservant is desiring more of God to the point that 1 or 2 days a week cannot contain it. Its longing after Him as you would a lover. Its wanting more out of life and a relationship with God then what common understanding says you can.
Many in the “church” today say you can’t have that personal of a relationship with God. Many churches concentrate on relationship with God through programs and events and even through pastoral figures. But in reality God is more real then a brother and closer then your best friend and that relationship is waiting for you within your reach. The only thing that can stop you from it is you.
Rant, life, downsizing, and options.
So I finally got done with my rewrite for my site. For ease of use I’ve put in wordpress, also kept my old site, with all its content linked off the right. Eventually I’ll get everything moved over. I had to manully move all my blog entries, not that they are that breath taking or indisposable but they are my site history.
Now to the rant. So I’ve had a lot time to think about life lately and how I’ve got to where I am from where I wanted to be. Getting told you’re loosing your job within the next 2 to 6 months to downsizing really can make you think. 10 years ago I was in school thinking “I’m gonna be a preacher”. Wide eyed dumb and with a bible underhand spitting out everything taught to me and stating it was my own beliefs. now I’ve found that its just religion. Lots of that going around.
So over all I’ve been through a hellish last few years. over and over I’ve been through things that have made me want to drop and quit out of life. If there was a reset button I would have hit it long ago. God brought me through so much stuff, it shook and tore down every religous conception I had, and then He rebuilt them. He taught me more about love and the lack of it in churches then I cared to know, and from an end I didn’t expect to see. I’m still going through a lot of stuff. And truthfully I’ve been timid to walk in the doors of a church now for some time because every time I do, I receive the right foot of fellowship. My family has all but said that I’ve screwed up my chances of being used by God, and constantly try and get me back into the one church that biblically speaking makes me frightened.
Some of the lessons i’ve learned.
- God cares about people, not religous rights and rituals.
- The modern church has become the same religous organization that the early “church” butted heads with, even that Jesus himself did.
- Church is not about the people.
- God cannot be judged by those who name themselves after Him, He is well beyond and above them.
- Love is an action that requires stepping outside yourself, and what you or your church deams acceptable behavior, even the worst of sinners deserves and should be loved by those who name themselves God’s own.
- God doesn’t care about politics, He cares about people. God’s kingdom isn’t in this world, if it was, Jesus would have fought for it rather then die on the cross for our sins.
- “God came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.”
- Love needs to be given without strings and with a full heart.
- Churches concentrate too much on do not do this, you must do that.
- Christians tend to become to involved in the politics of this world, it distracts from the true calling of God’s choosen which is to walk after God’s own heart, cast off the world, and embrace the message of love, seeking to love those who don’t know love at all. Seeking hyper political envolvement is using the weapons of this world, rather the weapons of prayer and of the Spirit.
- I don’t see eye to eye with many “christians” and in fact I see many of them as having no faith at all.
- Religious beleifs that you do not base off of personal study and prayer are beleifs that you do not own.
- God, and God’s will are not trully important to many Christians, if they were then They would be more concerned about showing love then judgement on those around them.
- Showing someone they are in sin can be just as easily done in a way that shows someone you love them, as it can be in a tone of judgement, and most often it is done in judgement not love.
There’s more to that and maybe i’ll update/continue that list down the road but for now I’m done.
