Can Christians Be REAL and Accept One Another As We Are??
Posted : 24 Aug, 2009 07:42 AM
I am wondering if our living Body of Christ, as it strives to be that beautiful Body of believers and church without spot or wrinkle, has it in us to just be REAL and accept one another as we are? I see us all as a "work in progress" and as we seek out to do our Lord's will, He helps us to go from glory to glory, meaning we grow as we begin to "know".
I discovered a long time ago that it is impossible to keep up a standard of "perfect" in my Christian walk as I have often been held by others to do. We are NOT perfect. That is why we need our Lord! He is perfect, beautiful, lovely, and worthy of our praise! I don't feel I need to seek anyone's praise. I know I am called the way I am. Jesus called me to speak His word, to preach the word, to testify to His love as He has called us all. When I was called, I was not as I am now and as I am now is not how I will be tomorrow!
I am growing and so are all of us! Then we throw into the mix that we are all believers but some of us believe differently then the others. So what? Can't we just be as we are without feeling we need to defend our way of thinking or believing?? I choose to be as I am, without apology or debate. Is that so wrong of me?
I did not come on this site to debate my walk or my way of believing. I came on this site because it proclaims to be Christian and it is for "dating". I realize that topics of our belief are bound to come up in conversations between us if we are seeking each other to be a match with one another and be equally yoked together. This is not always what I get though. Most have been so very kind and loving and accepting and I thank you for that! Some have decided that I need to be changed. That is God's job.
I KNOW I did not come onto this site for Christian "policing" or to be debated as to what I choose to place on my profile, believe, or understand about my walk with Christ. If someone reads my profile and feels that my beliefs are different, then why not just move on to someone else? Why not accept me as I am and allow me to have my walk?? I have God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to help me in my Christian walk. I have my church, my fellowship of believers and those who I counsel and counsel with! Why would I desire to come onto a dating site and be met with those who disagree with me and decide it is their "job" to somehow correct me??
I have to tell you that in all my years as a Christian mother I have taken my 5 children to many different churches as I was a growing Christian. I hate to say this but I regret it! I was seeking where I belong. I found that place, but in the mean time, my kids were exposed to so much dogma and differences and fakehood that some of them felt it was way too hard to even be a Christian at all! I felt bad for putting them through that and then I had to spend time helping them sort it out. Either way, I learned to be a mother who accepts my children as they are without constantly correcting them concerning what they are not. They are growing. I direct them and I lead them as I am.
I believe our Heavenly Father looks at us the very same way. He loves us as we are! He loves us so much that He sent His Son to this world! That Son died for us because He looked at us and saw IN us something worth dying for! It does not mean He saw us as perfect. He saw us, and sees us, as human, and in need of a Savior who can show the way and extend to us the power of His grace to be as we are as we grow!
Grace gives me the freedom to walk with my head up high as I learn the better way to walk . Grace gives me the understanding that the Bible is a love letter from God and not a set of rules and regulations that I could not possibly follow to the letter. To live by the law is to die also by the law. Legalism made my kids want to fall away from Gods grace. Legalism made me want to leave this site. Legalism is something that states the Christian walk is way to hard to follow, so why try?
I thank my GOD that HE IS NOT THAT WAY! I wont debate this and I wont apologise for it! I am exactly who and what I am and GOD LOVES ME! JESUS DIED FOR ME! I am a work in progress and I might not be where I need to be, but I thank God I am not where I was! I also thank GOD that all said and done.. I am SAVED and I will spend ETERNITY with my LORD AND MY SAVIOR AND.....the full Living BODY OF CHRIST!
for that..I PRAISE HIM!
Over the weekend I was led to a man who started Sampsonsociety.org for men. This man struggled as a Pastor with porn addiction and later left his place of ministry to find it again in the reality that it had been too hard to live up to the facade he felt he had to keep up with while in his place of leadership. This mans name is Nate Larkin. I suggest everyone who can, to go to his site and watch the video of his testimony! I believe it is Nate Larkin dot com. God gave him the grace to be human and expose his issue before everyone and then began a huge ministry surrounding it! Blessings to you all and..
Can Christians Be REAL and Accept One Another As We Are??
Posted : 24 Aug, 2009 08:18 AM
Not sure if this will stay after I delete my profile and close this account but if it does, then I would like to pray that you all receive the desires of your hearts and that you will come to understand the vastness of God's love for you..
you are a treasure to be held in special communion with our Lord and Savior..our precious Jesus! He loves you beyond measure!
Can Christians Be REAL and Accept One Another As We Are??
Posted : 24 Aug, 2009 11:18 AM
dear rev jenine, thank you, you shouldnt go. i wished you wouldnt as you do make good posts... when good folks are let to be run off because of some who dont know how to be social and express their views in a simple discussion and not let it turn to mean spirited insults and hostilities,and belittlein others .. that is not the wisedom from above.
Heavenly Versus Demonic Wisdom
james 3:13-18 13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Can Christians Be REAL and Accept One Another As We Are??
Posted : 29 Aug, 2009 06:20 AM
"I am growing and so are all of us! Then we throw into the mix that we are all believers but some of us believe differently then the others. So what? Can't we just be as we are without feeling we need to defend our way of thinking or believing?? I choose to be as I am, without apology or debate. Is that so wrong of me? "
The bible gives us MANY MANY MANY verses telling us to defend our faith and to straigten out fellow proclaiming "christians" who don't believe according to God's Word. If we don't, it causes confusion and chaos. And acceptance in some cases, that the church (or body of Christ) is not allowed to accept. Check out the book "The Cure for the Dysfunctional Church" By Barry Barnett Jr. It'll break it down for you if you don't want to read the whole bible to find your answer, it'll give you the verses.
Can Christians Be REAL and Accept One Another As We Are??
Posted : 29 Aug, 2009 03:12 PM
Love is about union, trust, monogamy, and sacrifice for one another. Physical attraction and the like are of course important. Obviously we would not be with someone if we were not excited about the physically. On the other hand elite's social engineering have programmed us with a set of false standards which many of us grow neurotic trying to uphold. Just look at any woman's magazine. They will tell you over and over again that you are over wait, that you are not sexy enough, that you need to be better in bed, that you need to present your self as a mysterious sexual goddess before men (regardless if it is true or not).
None of these a values that Yeshua (Jesus to the Spanish speaking people's) taught. None of this will prepare a couple to growing stronger in the Lord by making the Lord the center of the family.
Also I often hear the phrase,"if you love me, you will except me as I am". This is often told to me by very neurotic people who don't have any or much realization as to the reality of who they are "a child of the Lord God supreme!".
There is room for improvement within ALL of us, there is always time for God's Love and Grace which activates that process of improvement. The Gradual Salvation that Yeshua spoke about.
His teachings are all the more relevant in this day and age of Human gods/Celebrities who everyone is racing to keep up with, who's image this nation/world marches to as opposed to that of Yeshua, the best living example I have ever came across.
