As I said yesterday we had the opportunity to attend church at Buckhead Church on Sunday morning. They've been doing a series My Bad Church Experience and if you haven't gotten a chance to listen to any of it yet I recommend you go do so now! It's been great. I've been listening along in the car every time I find myself driving for 45 minutes or more at a time.
This pass Sunday was title A good Gift Gone bad. We studied in Matthew 23:1-7 and it was truly eye opening. Here are some of my notes.
- People from church, keep people from church
Where am I judging outside of the church? What standards am I creating for others?
This definitely struck a note with me. It is so easy to judge others based on their actions, what they say, and not know where they are coming from. And I find myself all too often setting others up to my standards which may not be realistic for them. This in turn is setting them up to fail, hurting them and me. I need to spend less time judging others based on what they can't do, but praise for what they are capable of, because we are all different.
This definitely struck a note with me. It is so easy to judge others based on their actions, what they say, and not know where they are coming from. And I find myself all too often setting others up to my standards which may not be realistic for them. This in turn is setting them up to fail, hurting them and me. I need to spend less time judging others based on what they can't do, but praise for what they are capable of, because we are all different.
Where am I saying on thing and living another?
Hipocrisy. Oooh everyone hates this. But we find it to be so true in churches today. Everyone has fallen short of the glory of God and we can all be guilty of this. I know many times my actions and attitudes are one thing, while I say another. I'm striving to have my actions and even more my attitude reflect what I am called to be.
Where am I portraying I'm better because I'm a Christian?
Ouch. This one hurt. I work with urban youth, and sometimes its easy to fall into the trap because I had super involved parents and a safe home to believe I'm better, but I'm not. God created us all in his perfect image, and I am not better than anyone else. I know others are more educated on the Word than me, and others have been on more mission trips than me, but that does not make me any less either. We are all here to serve and glorify our God, in our own specially designed way.
And lastly, we are called to be the givers of the gift. We are not to wrap up the most precious gift in garbage, but to present it as the most wonderfully packaged gift.
Here is the link for the message, I really hope you get a chance to listen to it.
Happy Thursday my friends!
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