Reality Check

You know, we are lacking something in our zealousness for Christ.

Jesus Christ is a real person.

Before you say..."Duh"..think about this....

If we are bickering in our churches or denominations over who's the boss, are we acting as though we know Jesus is alive? (Who's in charge, after all, if not the King?)

If we quarrel over interpretations of scripture, are we acting as though Jesus is in our midst? (Why not just ask Him, didn't He write it?)

If our opinion is so exalted that we must put down others who don't agree with us by the use of personal assaults, judgmentalism, and harsh criticism...where is our fear of being wrong? Don't we fear the King, who said..."Judge not that ye be not judged" and "Vengence is Mine, I will repay"?

We are forgetting one simple fact....

Jesus did not come to us to take sides...but to take charge.

We will be fruitful to the point that we let Him have charge over us. The Lord will speak to those who will listen, He will lead those who will follow, and He will reject those who place themselves on the throne of their own lives-rejecting His leadership. He lives and rules and reigns. He is in charge.

Do you think that He will be slow in punishing those who abuse their brother? Do you think He was bluffing when He said that it would be better for us to have a millstone tied around our neck and be cast into the sea than for us to do harm to the least of His little ones? If you truly fear God, how can you deliberately try to hurt, offend, or degradate the lowest of His children. You are acting as though Jesus does not exist.

Jesus is alive! He is a Person you can know, speak to and hear from. And we need to start doing just that...praying and listening. He said "Be still and know that I am God." Stop your fussing. He is in charge, all things are in His hands. He will not let you fall, just trust in Him. The Holy Spirit does not panic, nor does He need us to fight His battles for Him. He wants us to confess the battle is His and look to Him for the victory. Have faith in God.

After all, He does exist, is exactly Who He says He is, and will do exactly what He says He will do.

Why is that so hard to put into practice?

Personal Responsibility

There's something about sin that we've forgotten about.

It's our fault.

To make this personal...my sins are my fault. I have the responsibility for them. I did it. Yo, me.

Nobody made me do it. I made a deliberate choice to disobey God. I can squeal all I want about its genetics, my upbringing, circumstances, etc. But its still my fault. It may be defensible, understandable, so on and so forth...but sin is still wrong. And its still my responsibility. My fault.

I have a hard time with responsibility. I don't like to be wrong. It makes me look bad, feel bad. I want to be the hero, flawless in every way. I want to be able to say that God is proud of me. When people find fault in me, I want to defend myself, find faults in them. After all they are only saying what they are saying because they are jealous that they can't be as right and as good as me. I can't be wrong.

Oh, yes, I can be. You see, my sin is my fault.

I go to Calvary and look up at the Cross. Hard, rough, blood stained. I lean against it in grief. The cost of my sin. Can I defend myself now? I think of how I have run my mouth, blamed others. More sin on top of sin. I feel the warm, sticky blood run down on my hand. Blood shed for me. I as much as killed Him.

He made me. He loved me. He died for my sin.

Because it was my fault.

Introduction

I'm new to blogging, and it will show as I get started.

I'm Greg Cloud. I live in western Arkansas and am a pastor of a small Southern Baptist Church. Since the church is small, I still have to work for a living. (Ha, Ha)

Looking at other baptist blogs, I have been amazed at the harshness that we can treat each other with.

People are people. We all fail, sin, don't spend as much time thinking our thoughts through before we post them, etc. Don't we realize that? Why do we judge each other more harshly than we are willing to judge ourselves?

Why do we judge each other at all? The only person Jesus authorises us to judge is ourselves. (Judge not that ye be not judged). Take the board out of your own eye before you point out the speck in the eye of your brother. Instead, support him or exhort him for his fruits, not his tree watering technique.

What are your fruits?

Greg