AJtheIrishLass

I want to ramble some and share some thoughts.

We have always allowed members to vent to a certain point. Some need to in part because they've never had the freedom to do so. Yet there also comes a time when you need to forgive and move forward and let go of the bitterness and anger.

To allow bitterness to remain, will only hurt the individual that holds onto it and it will negatively affect other areas of their life. It does no good to remain bitter for years and to cling to past offenses. It does absolutely nothing to the person or persons who hurt you. So, in effect, one is allowing themselves to continue to be influenced and harmed by another when they remain bitter. Don't do that to yourself.

We all have a choice in our recovery. We can choose to remain stagnant and allow the past to continue to influence us negatively today and tomorrow and the rest of our lives. Or, we can choose to deal with what happened, free ourselves from bitterness, and move forward in life.

We also need to learn to separate the error we've been taught from the truth of God's Word. For instance, God's Word never teaches that one cannot take medicine. So no one had to choose between God and taking medicine because God never said they couldn't take it. A person said it. A person who distorted the Bible. Not God.

It is imperative for people who have been hurt in churches that distorted the Bible and how God is, to learn the difference between truth and error. Just because a minister says something, it doesn't make it true. Just because an entire organization teaches something, it doesn't make it true. We must separate the error from the truth and see the error for what it is and not continue to associate it with God and His Word and blame God for it.

We each have a choice here- we can remain in the past and our hurts and go on for the rest of our lives reliving the times when others have hurt us and the teachings that messed us up and hindered us in our walk with God. We can remain a victim. We can continue to believe the error and live a life of bondage because of it. Or we can do something about our healing, growth, and moving out of that rut.

We can only help you here if you want to be helped. If you want to remain a victim and want to remain bitter, we cannot help you and you're in the wrong place.

Do you want healing? Do you want freedom from bitterness? Do you want to separate error from truth?

Or do you want to continue to allow past wrongs and error to influence your life today in a negative manner?

The choice is left to each of us and we cannot blame others for the choice we make in this.

Lois

"For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."-Hebrews 2:17-18 NIV

I've diverted from using one of Sunday's readings because this passage really leapt out at me while praying Evening Prayer earlier. It truly brings to mind the full scope of Jesus' sufferings for us.

We tend to think of God as being "way up there" someplace and unable to fully identify with our human suffering and frailty. Indeed, it seems as though our human nature has always been unable to comprehend the concept of God-in-the-flesh suffering for us. Perhaps this explains the reluctance of many of the Jewish people to accept Jesus and His message.

God is not "way up there", but with us. He can identify with our sinfulness, our frailty, and our suffering. He is for us, so who can be against us? While we can't expect perfection this side of Heaven, we can look to Jesus the merciful High Priest as our example. If only all Christian leaders were responsive to God's grace and followed the example of Jesus. I've been blessed to have known many clergy and other leaders who were and are examples of mercy and faithfulness. May the Body of Christ be blessed with such faithful servants!

AJtheIrishLass

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Have you ever noticed the tension we live in? We don’t want to sin—we sin. We want to do right—we fail. How many of you have ever said, “I will never do that again! I will never sin in that way again?” and then we sin in the same exact way within 24 hours? We pray for a miracle, it doesn’t happen. We pray for a miracle, it happens.

I know many people who have had physical healings; we’re talking, brain tumors disappearing, legs growing, etc. Total supernatural, inexplainable miracles. I've also known some who have prayed and prayed to be healed of cancer, only to go on and die of cancer, or someone who prays to be healed of some kind of physical ailment, only to have to live with said ailment.

So, why does God sometimes heal and sometimes not? Why do we want to do good, but fail? What is up with this tension we live in?

Physical healings are not about us; they never have been. It’s not, “If I believe hard enough,” or “If I don’t doubt,” or “If I just have enough faith,” or “If I just name it and claim it!” That’s totally putting the healing—the miracle—on ourselves, like we have something to do with it. We don’t.

This is about God and his kingdom. His kingdom crashing into our lives, our world, and him having his way. When Jesus was here, he proclaimed, “God’s kingdom is at hand!” and it was. Jesus cast out demons and he healed hundreds of people—even raised some from the dead. That is God’s kingdom crashing into our world and him having his way. We see bits and pieces of God’s kingdom every time Jesus performed a miracle, a healing. But at the same time, God’s kingdom isn’t completely here 100% all the time today. That will happen when Jesus returns. So we have this tension, which I call “the-already-and-the-not-yet.” God’s kingdom already here, but not yet 100% of the time.

Picture a picket fence. Sometimes you try to stick your hand through to the other side, and you can, because there’s space, there’s air; other times, at a different part of the fence, you try to stick your hand through, and you cannot. You’ve hit fence. That’s how it is with God’s kingdom. Sometime it comes crashing through and his will is accomplished on earth just like it is in heaven. Other times, we pray and pray, but the miracle doesn’t take place. God’s kingdom doesn’t break through.

And the thing is, God’s the one who gets to decide. Our job is to worship him [I]no matter what he decides[/I]. He's God and we're not.

Here are some examples of living in this tension of the-already-and-the-not-yet in the life of Paul. It's not in regards to a physical healing, but you can still feel the tension of what I'm talking about. It's the same exact tension we live in today.

[U]1st Corinthians 6:8-10:[/U]
[I]We are honest, but they call us impostors. We are well known, but we are treated as unknown. We live close to death, but here we are, still alive. We have been beaten within an inch of our lives. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.[/I]

[U]Romans 7:18-21:[/U]
[I]I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want to, but I can't. When I want to do good, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it. It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.[/I]

See what I mean? It's normal to have struggles, we’re broken; we need Jesus. If we weren't broken, we certainly wouldn't need him. And we should always always always ask for his kingdom to come, for his will to be done right here on earth just like it is in heaven. He’s the only way we can make it in this crazy mixed-up world.

Sorry my posts get so long. Sometimes I get to typing, and I can't stop. :chatterbox:Thanks for dropping by, have a lovely day!
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Anne

I want to share this brief thought. It goes with what works actually is. As most of us found, the UPC and performance based churches often like to point to James, where he says that faith without works is dead, in order to support some of their teachings.

One day at my old workplace, I was looking through a book we had of graphics which we could use in advertisements. In the religious section, one caught my attention. It said, "Work is love made visible".

I think this is a good way to summarize exactly what James was teaching. Ephesians tells us that we are saved through faith and not works; yet James says faith without works is dead. Are these contrary the one to the other? No, they are not. (More could be said on this, but not in this posting.)

The example James uses to show works have to do with our actions toward others. Jesus stated that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. The works that we do come from the love in our hearts. These works will never save us, nor make us righteous, nor gain us any special standing with God. They are simply the evidence of what is in our hearts.

Work is love made visible. I like that!

Lois