I didn't know that....did you?

Raise your hand if your preference is to live in bondage, surrounded by chaos and at the mercy of stress and strife every moment of every day in every situation.

Yea, me neither!

Peace, calm, joy and reasonable happiness are a much better, much nicer alternative.

But how to achieve such a state of being in the midst of a tumultuous, chaotic world?

In the book of Philippians chapter 4 we find this section of scripture, words which almost seem to mock us in this current world of upheaval and strife!

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

HOW?!?!  How are we to focus on noble, pure and lovely things when arguing and fighting surrounds us?  When every other person we encounter believes their version of how life should be lived is the right one, but it conflicts with all the others?  HOW CAN WE ACHIEVE A SENSE OF PEACE AND BALANCE?

The entirety of Philippians holds the key:
Phil 1 -
Prayer is the beginning of peace taking hold of our thoughts and feelings
1: 12 -
Trusting God with the outcomes of whatever situations we find ourselves in
1:19-27
recognizing that our lives are filled with hope and joy when Christ is our Savior, and that because we have Eternal Life in Him we have no fear of the future or of death itself
2: 1-11
That when we put our hope in Christ, we are free from trying to "make something of ourselves" - for He has already made the best something of us we can ever be - Sons and Daughters of the Living God - and that by lifting and loving and caring for others, we ourselves will be cared for by the Creator of all things
What peace, not to carry weight on our own shoulders, but to be carried!
16-
we can rejoice greatly with abandon when we hold onto His words of truth. They will sustain us, strengthen us and hold us up, even when we suffer for His sake.  For we know that the suffering, due to the misery of this world, lasts only a moment, but the JOY coming is everlasting!
3: 1-15
We are warned and aware of the dangers to avoid, and put no trust in our fleshly ability to overcome, but allow His mighty Holy Spirit to bring us to victory!  We are not there yet, but we know what our end will be; life eternal in the presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
4-
When we live in unity with those who believe in Him and encourage one another in this walk of life, we discover that indeed, we have
PEACE that passes all understanding
HARMONY with our brothers and sisters in Christ
STRENGTH to overcome wicked perversity
JOY that cannot be extinguished
We turn over all things in prayer to God the Father, and receive with thankfulness His answers and our lives are ordered, calm, and a beacon of light to others that they, too, can bask in the safety of the harbor of Gods great love, grace and mercy!

Pick up the Book, read these great words and be motivated in your life today!

WHY do we DO THAT?!!?!

Scrolling through my Facebook News Feed the other morning I came across a picture of a fairly well known Christian Pastor with a caption that was obviously quoting something they had said, and then a statement slamming what they said as being "unchristianlike".  The slam was by another fairly well known Pastor.

In the comment section it was obvious that many of the "flock" of christians who saw the picture were only too happy to jump on the "tear down this soul" bandwagon, and not only were there plenty of agreement type comments, but also many "and they did this, too!" or "they said this too!"

Being unfamiliar with this person I dug a little deeper.  I actually read the article the "quote" came from.

Sure enough, they had said the statement they were accused of saying.  But just as surely, it was separated from the REST of the sentence and then displayed completely out of context.

In fact, I discovered I fully agreed with the premise and full statement that had been made as both were biblically sound.

So why did this other Pastor feel the need to tear this person down?  And why did so many who call themselves Christians gleefully join in?

I thought about the admonition of Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:14 - 16:

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this "you shall love your neighbor as yourself".  But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another.  I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

In Ephesians 4:3, we are clearly admonished to  endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

So why oh why do we waste so much time and effort destroying instead of building up?

SIN.

Anytime we do the opposite of what the Lord has instructed us to do, we sin.  The only way out of sin is to repent and ask God to forgive us.  We talked about this in an earlier post.  

When we focus on ourselves, elevating ourselves, grasping for power and prestige for ourselves - we do disservice to the Lord we represent.  I learned this the hard way.

By tearing down another in the mistaken idea it lifted me up.  It didn't.  It made me look like just what I was being.  Small, petty, human, sinful.  And I hurt the one I tore down. I didn't teach them anything, or inspire them to "do better".

We can cover it up and dress it up and label it "correction, instruction or speaking the "truth" in love" all we want, but once you get past the pretty pasted on fake facade you know it for what it is.

Ugly sin.

It puts me in mind of the story of the crabs. You've probably heard this one.  Why can you just throw crabs in an open bucket and not worry about them escaping?  Because if one does try to get out, the others grab hold of him and drag him back down!

That's us, when we tear others down.  We not only hurt them - we hurt ourselves.  We all end up staying trapped in a bucket of sin.

It isn't our "job" to school others on what we think is correct doctrine.  It isn't good christian behavior to point out other christians mistakes.

Remember what Jesus told His disciples when they came to Him complaining that others were casting out demons in Jesus' name, but they weren't one of the disciples?  See Mark 9:38 and Luke 9:49.  Jesus rebuked that kind of thinking.  The kind of thinking that separates and destroys unity.  He told His disciples

if they are not against us they are for us.

We are without excuse when we disobey the Lord and cause division.

True Christianity is when we submit ourselves and our selfish desires to the obedience of Christ for the sake of UNITY in the Body of Christ.

If we would get this through our thick skulls, the "world" wouldn't be so successful in coming against us.  Think about that next time you want to "call someone out".