AND THAT'S WHY...

By -
I listen to people publicly dumping on and dissing christians from every angle and for every reason imaginable.  It breaks my heart.  It makes me mad.  It frustrates me.  Think of an emotion...I've felt it.  Why are christians always the target?

This week, unspeakable tragedy and pain came into the life of a christian.  One that many of us know.  One who is, because of his success as a pastor and author, a public figure.  His name is Rick Warren.  He pastors Saddleback Church in Lake Forrest, California.  He is the author of THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE.

I could go on and on with his accomplishments for the Kingdom of God, but this week, none of that matters.  This week, all that matters is the fact that his 27 year-old son, who had struggled with mental illness, took his own life.

I'm not sure how it can get any worse than that...but, it has.  Fellow christians...don't miss that fact...fellow christians have responded to this tragedy and its ensuing pain by using it as ammunition to judge, hate, ridicule and make all kinds of accusations against the Warrens.  How in the name of God can anyone with a conscience, anyone with the love of God in them, anyone with a heart and a brain, (or at least one of them) do such a thing?

That, my friend, is HATE.  It is VENOM.  It is UNHOLY.  It is SIN.  What happened to "Weep with those who weep"?  What happened to "Share one another's burdens"?  What happened to "by your love they will know you"?  I guess that doesn't apply here.  Then again, if it doesn't apply here, where would it apply?

And we wonder why the world doesn't want any part of what we have?  We hate when we're called to love.  We kick one another when we are at our most vulnerable.  We publicly ridicule a family when they are at their deepest point of hurt imaginable...and we call ourselves CHRISTIANS.

 AND THAT'S WHY...the world isn't interested in what we have.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SHOULD JOHN KELLY APOLOGIZE?

By -
In case you are unaware, Dr. John Kelly is the Superintendent of Schools for Pearland ISD.  Recently, he, and other Houston suburban superintendents were asked about the mandate sent down from President Obama requiring all school districts in America to allow any transgender student to be allowed to use the restroom or locker room, not of their biological sex, but of whatever sex they "identified with".  Here were his comments. " When the Supreme Court re-defined marriage and invented new constitutional rights, the door was opened for re-defining all social norms, now including Executive Branch dictates about bathroom and locker room rules in local schools," he said. "A hostile vocal minority now rules in America aided by an apathetic, unengaged   majority. What's next? Legalizing pedophilia and polygamy? Unless we return to the Biblical basis on which our nation's laws were established, we are in serious trouble — and cannot expect God's con...
Read more

Who's Your Coach?

By -
Ever play on a team without a coach? I have. You know, a church-league basketball team. Softball league. Flag football. It's not exactly the same as the sports experiences you remember from your earlier years. Back in High School, everyone knew exactly who was in charge. Everyone knew who was calling the shots, determining the strategy and calling the plays on gameday. But, even before that, every day you knew who was in charge of practice. And you knew what his purpose was. Sure, to win games, but also, to make you the best player you could be. After all, that's what makes it possible for him to win games. My playing days are over, but recently I got myself a coach anyway. Not to help me with my jumpshot or put a few more MPHs on my fastball, but to help me be a better pastor. For the past six months, I've been part of a coaching network, along with some other pastors from accross the U.S. and a few other countries. We have a coach whose sole purpose is ...
Read more

BUNNIES, BOUNCING & BAIT

By -
Yesterday was the day before Easter. A few months ago, in a moment of insanity or inspiration, I'm still not sure which, I mentioned in a staff meeting that we should rent the local football stadium, hire a helicopter and drop a few thousand Easter eggs out of it. Yesterday we did it...with a few exceptions. We dropped 30,000 eggs. We had 15 inflatables. We had games, face-painting, popcorn & cotton candy. We gave away thousands of dollars of prizes. And it was all free. We really didn't have any idea what to expect. I mean, we'd never done this before. Initially, we thought if 1,000 people showed up it would be a success. Then we reassessed and revised our expectations. We hoped for 1500. I don't know how many people showed up yesterday. I know that after the parking team had parked 5000 cars they quit counting. I know that we caused such a traffic jam in Pearland that the Pearland PD had to dispatch 5 units to handle the traffic backups we c...
Read more