Things I Think…
1. I think it’s time for all of us to view each other as people again, not as unofficial representatives of a political entity. We have systematically removed personhood from each other in favor of partisan labels..
2. Nothing but depression will result from desiring sanctification without suffering…
3. I’m tired of being sanctified… 🙂
4. In my opinion…one of the biggest lies of the church is that pastors are experts in matters beyond biblical teaching and pastoral care. The bigger issue is that pastors like to spread that lie…
5. Christ’s desire for unity in the church evidently didn’t mean that we’d all join the same sect…so I wonder what it does mean…
6. If someone made an icon of the Grinch, I’d prominently display it for meditation purposes…
7. One of the great messages one takes from the life of Abraham is that you’re never too old to be used mightily of God…so stop believing you are…
8. It’s not a sin to hope that God is more gracious and merciful than we are…
9. When it’s this cold, only heat from a wood fire can reach the bones…
10. There is nothing that makes me sadder these days than an inability to rejoice in the work of the Holy Spirit in places outside our own tradition…especially when I can’t or won’t…
7. “One of the great messages one takes from the life of Abraham is that you’re never too old to be used mightily of God…so stop believing you are…”
Thanks Michael. I really needed that reminder today.
CK,
So did I…it’s truth!
8. “It’s not a sin to hope that God is more gracious and merciful than we are…”
I absolutely do hope that He is. I’m reminded on a daily basis just how ungracious and unmerciful I am, if not in my words, then certainly in my thoughts.
#8 – Thank you
#9 – Amen. Nothing drives away the winter blues like a blazing fire in the fireplace.
CK,
I’m right there with you…
JoelG,
I think that sometimes we delight in hell.
I’m not sure that’s holy…
# 5 – To love one another in spite of our differences.
Josh,
We all love people inside and outside the faith.
Christ prays for unity among His kids.
Is unity more than “love” and if it is love what is the basis of that love…and where is it?
#’s 2 and 3: Amen and, unfortunately, Amen.
#9: Where I live, when it’s this cold, I turn on the air conditioner. ?
#4…not sure if this is an example of #4, but I get irked when pastors/leaders try to speak authoritatively on subjects they have no business speaking authoritatively on, just because of their being a pastor/leader. Mental health issues are an example.
#11 … I think some pastors think they are popes, not lowly shepherds … so do some of us pew sitters … goes all the way back thru history, I think… dunno
May we be one as He and the Father are one.
Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t think He expected total agreement.
True em! We all could use a dose, or multiple doses, of humility.
Guess my bring irked comes from hearing some leaders tell those who suffer with mental illness to “snap out of it” or “stop bring such a snowflake “.
“Snap out of it.” “Get over it.” “Suck it up, Buttercup.”
Phrases like that make this otherwise calm captain turn into Captain Ahab as he repeatedly stabs the white whale with his harpoon. I used to be the one who would toss around those words. That was until God allowed me to have a chronic illness which, in some cases, including mine, is accompanied by depression.
Dan,
I have a whole list of stuff…that I see pastors hawking their latest book on.
Mental illness and marriage counseling top the list…
As a pastor, I would/will say to someone who wants counsel for depression, “Keep in mind that I’m not an expert in mental health, but I’d like you to share with me what you’re going through, and hopefully, I can encourage you with scripture, prayer and perhaps some insights from my own experience. Between now and our next meeting, I’d like you to see a doctor to discuss the possibility of trying an antidepressant.”
#7 Still struggling with that one.
I know my age just cost me another Ministry opportunity.
Good words CK! To hear those words from a pastor world earn my respect.
Michael, the one I chuckle at most, and certainly not trying to start anything with anybody here, is when pastors/bloggers opine on climate change, as if they think watching Fox News, seeing two feet of snow outside their back window, or seeing a picture of a starving polar bear on Twitter is enough to formulate an argument on par with years of intensive reading and original, refereed and published research. Heck, I’ve been working as a professional Meteorologist since 1999 and even that fact doesn’t make me an expert on the subject!
#9:
Being originally from Minnesota, I’ve felt the brutal, bone-numbing arctic cold of temperatures colder than -30 on a few occasions. Not sure how much wood it would take to warm them bones!
Grey hair means your brain is outdated and irrelevant …. could be
I have many humorous memories of my late husband – after his hair turned grey. ..
He’d express impatience at some electronic gadget or other and a young person would invariably comment something to the affect, “oh, that’s all right, sir; in tme you’ll get the hang of it…”
He’d spent his final working years on artificial intelligence research, could build a computer with his eyes shut, standing on his head, if need be. ?, Beyond their use as calculators, he hated them, btw, said they would complicate daily life like we couldn’t imagine… I think 666 has something to do with coding ?
My late mother, on the other hand, played the “old” card with great skill to her advantage… Old people can be scary canny and sly… watch out for us ?
#18-Bob! praying you are relieved of the mindset asap… look around you at the stupidity and shallow thinking going on and stand – you have more influence than you may imagine…
oh how this world needs wise, godly, stable senior (anyone over 60 btw) men today… or so it seems to me 🙂
Walk in a manner that’s worthy of your call
There is one Lord, one God and Father of all
One body, one Spirit, in perfect gentleness
With humility, patience and forbearance
Love and unity oh Father
Love and unity oh Father
To each other in love
To each other in love
To each other in love
To each other in love
From a song I wrote a few years ago inspired by Ephesians 4:1ff.
Ed Stetzer on twitter this morning: Amazing how so many pastors are suddenly experts on marginal tax rates, economic growth projections, and more. 🙂
Josh,
LOL!
JD,
I love it
John 20:29
Thank you for your encouragement!