| | Praying To See the Harvest Field
In Sunday's post "Are you looking at the fields?", I mentioned I was reading through the book of John during Lent. Last week I was reviewing John 4 and I prayed for God to show me the harvest field, to give me eyes to see the harvest as He does.
A couple hours after I prayed, I was out to coffee, reading and doing my Bible study, and a woman came up to me and asked me if I were a Christian. I told her I was. We began talking and not long after that I became distressed. It seemed her Christianity was more about what she did and did not do rather than the work Christ had done for her.
I shouldn't have been surprised that this woman came my way in response to my prayer.
For several months now I've been increasingly burdened about legalism creeping into the Church.
For a few days after I had that conversation I was at my wit's end. I found myself doing a lot of pacing. I don't generally do that. I was grieving that we so easily discard the free grace of Christ for legalism. And I must add I've been guilty of doing that very same thing. And I became angry that we so readily exchange Isaac for Ishmael, casting off the freedom we have in Christ and reverting to the bondage of legalism.
I cried out to God about this and asked, "What is happening to Your Church?" Of course, I already knew this was nothing new. Indeed, as Solomon has told us, there is nothing new under the sun. This same thing was happening in New Testament times. And thanks be to God, He has given us His Word and His Holy Spirit to bring us back to the central thing: Christ and Him crucified, the chief cornerstone of our faith.
I've been wanting to write on this but knew I had to wait because my heart was not right. I was bursting to let it all out but God kept me from doing so. He reminded me that the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. He also reminded me of the times I've jumped ahead with my mouth unbridled while my motives and intentions were all wrong. And I've dearly paid the price for that. So I went ahead and shared my concern with the Lord and with a few other people. (Thanks to those of you who have been praying!)
What Was I Missing?
Thanks be to God, He reminded me what I was missing. And it should have been so obvious to me...
It's that simple, yet vital, ingredient we so easily overlook: love, His love, His love for His Church. I started a series on "Things to look for in a Church" almost a year ago and the last thing on that list is "A Loving People," which I haven't gotten to blogging on yet, since the series has been on hiatus for some time now. But if love is not the basis for all we do, then we are nothing. Love must pervade all we do. You think I would learn...
I thank God He is a loving Father who is patient and persevering with His children. Translated: that means I thank and praise Him that He disciplines me for my own good and He continues to hit me over the head with His divine 2 x 4 when I need it! I am so dense sometimes...I can quote the verse "speak the truth in love," I know I Corinthians 13, but then I end up getting carried away with truth, and what do I end up with ... nothing. I may have the right doctrine but if I am not building on His foundation of love, I will go all wrong and my labor will all be in vain.
Over the weekend, I pulled out a book of Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermons and began reading his series of sermons on I Cor. 16:13-14 (KJV).[1] If you're not familiar with these verses, here they are:
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.
This is one of those passages of Scripture I've read several times, but God had never written them on my heart until that day. I mentioned to someone that up until now these were kind of like throwaway verses to me, verses I'd read but verses I'd never really read. We have a lot of action in the first 15+ chapters of I Corinthians, but then we get to the wrap-up in chapter 16. We have to remember God never wastes words (All Scripture...II Tim. 3.) These are not throwaway verses at all! We find in them the true essence of the Gospel: truth and love.
Verse 13: Watch ye, stand fast in the faith... Yes, it's true I was watching. Yes, I was standing fast in the faith. And, yes I was ready to fight for the faith...I was zealous. I was all about verse 13.
But what about verse 14? Let all your things be done with charity. Was I ready to love and let all my things be done with charity?
No, I wasn't ready to do that. I was ready to be contentious with my brothers and sisters rather than contending for the faith in love!
I had begun to lapse into legalism in my battle against legalism! Even as I so desired to magnify the grace of God, I had become legalistic! A spirit of anger, judgmentalism and narrowness was fueling me rather the spirit of Christ's love for His Church. That's the danger we constantly face as we attempt to rightly balance truth and grace.
God showed me I was missing charity and lacking His love. Let all my things be done with charity. Oh, by His grace, that it might be so, always, every day and in every way, in my thoughts, words and deeds.
Love ought to be central in our minds and hearts, but we so easily neglect it.
Then, just in case I didn't get it the first time, we sang the hymn "Be Thou My Vision" Sunday night. The first stanza was all I needed:
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
When we began to sing those words, I began to cry. Christ has to be my vision. He has got to be our vision. Because when Christ is our vision we will have that right balance of grace and truth, mercy and justice, peace and righteousness. Or, as Paul wrote:
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.
As members of Christ's Church, we've got to have that right balance there. We can't go over to legalism and judgmentalism. And neither should we resort to antinomianism or licentiousness. We have always got to get a right balance. When we do, we won't go off all cocked, ramming truth down people's throats, and we won't sit back and neglect to speak the truth for Christ's sake because God's renown and the welfare of His Church is at stake. And as we do all that, we will do it all with love. And then we'll be walking in the steps of the One through whom came grace and truth.
What I know
I know there are many out there who can expound Scripture better than I and I can become intimidated at that. They can argue the finer points of Scripture, e.g.-why we should or shouldn't keep Sabbath, why we should or shouldn't veil and so forth. I can't do that so well. As I began to assess the situation I was seeing giants in the land, Goliath looming, and I began to be fearful. I was tempted to shrink away in fear. I needed to heed Paul's command in I Cor. 16:13 to be brave. But then God reminded me that we need never fear preaching the glorious free grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I may not be a Biblical scholar and may not have the knowledge that many of you have, but these things I do know.
I know the grace of Jesus Christ and it is so wonderfully glorious I will shout it out here on Xanga or wherever God gives me opportunity. A. J. Gordon gave this exhortation:
The present is our opportunity. Opportunity is yet another word for importunity, as though God did beseech you by us to use the present moment for doing all possible for making the grace of God known to all those who have not heard of it![2]
I would add that we must continue to make the grace of God known to all those who have already heard of it...because we who've already heard it too easily forget it! Satan wants us to forget the grace of God in the same way the Witch wanted to convince Prince Caspian, Puddleglum and the children that there never was a sun. We need to continue to remind one another of God's free gift of grace, and as far as I'm concerned, we can't do that too often. Otherwise we risk the danger of heading down the road to legalism.
I also know that God's Church cannot for a minute give way to those who are trying to rob Christ's Church of this beautiful gift of free grace the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has made available to us through the cross of Christ by faith alone.
So this is what I bring to you. I will not bring you arguments as to how you should live out God's gift of grace in your life, that is up to the Spirit to show you. But I hope to bring you the mind of Christ in these matters so His Gospel of grace and our Savior Jesus Christ might be lifted up above all things and He alone would get the praise, honor and glory due His Name. And I so desire we as Christ's Church would endeavor to live out the unity we have in Christ Jesus for that is our birthright as adopted children of God. My prayer is that we not continue to be bogged down and distracted by nonessentials but focus on the essence of our faith: Christ and Him crucified and keep Christ the central thing, for that is what He is and what He ought to be, after all.
My Deep Concern
Many times I've looked at the list of sufferings Paul endured for the Gospel. I know I've not come close to experiencing one one zillioneth of those things, yet at the end of that list in II Corinthians 11:28 we find this:
my deep concern for the churches (NKJV™)
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
I do have a deep concern, a daily pressure on me, for the Church. It's pretty much been a burden of mine since shortly after I was saved. I keep asking God where He wants me to serve Him, in what harvest field He wants me working, I want to be sure I'm not missing His cloud moving, so to speak, and invariably He keeps bringing me back to His Church. I know there is a danger of isolating myself and living in a Christian bubble, so I do experience tension over that, and know I can't exclusively limit myself to interactions with Christians. But yet today here I am again...in the harvest field...
So I share my deep concern for God's church, my burden specifically regarding legalism in the Church. Would you please read this prayerfully? Would you pray along with me that Christ might be given the preeminent place in each of our lives and in His Church, that we might lift Him up and do nothing to distract from the glory that belongs to Him and Him alone? Would you pray with me that the vital unity we have in Christ might be protected and guarded and we might endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?
Dear Church, I write these things to you. And as God enables me to, I hope to do so in love.
I have two reasons why I am burdened about legalism in the Church:
1. When we focus on what we do or what we don't do, we are robbing God of the glory due His Name.
2. When we focus on what we do or what we don't do, we are in danger of dividing the Church and dismantling the unity we have in Christ.
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1. When we focus on what we do or what we don't do, we are robbing God of the glory due His Name.
When we keep pointing at our works, we make the work of Christ less and less important. When people ask us what makes us Christians and we end up saying things like, "Because of how I dress. Because of how I eat. Because of the day I worship." What does that tell them about the work of Christ? When we focus on our works, where does that put the focus? Us. Us. Us. That makes Christianity seem to be more about us that about Christ. Yet the glory of the Gospel is in Christ and Christ alone. Christ! Christ! Christ! Christ is the one who lived and died and rose for us and ascended and is seated at the right hand of the Father. My dear brothers and sisters, Christ is the one who became sin for us so we might be made the righteousness of God. Christ made Himself of no reputation so we might be reconciled to God, not by our works but by His glorious work on our behalf. When we make Christianity about us and about our works, we are in grave danger of minimizing His grace to us and we can begin to imply His work for us really isn't all that important. When we identify ourselves by what we do, rather than what He has done, we are in danger of obscuring the glory of the Gospel. As we do that, the world begins to see more and more of us and our works, and less and less of the glory of Christ and His perfect, sufficient and necessary saving work for us. When it becomes more about our works, the beauty and simplicity of the Gospel begins to fade. People can begin to see Christianity as a religion of works rather than the free gift of God in which Christ's perfect righteousness is imputed and imparted to us. The world can be deceived and think they have to do something to get to God, and that is a false gospel.
When we make the glorious gospel of Christ about us, it is like we are trying to take clouds and cover up the sun. Of course, we will never totally succeed in doing that, but no doubt God's glory is diminished. Instead of holding to the wonderful simplicity that is the Gospel, we make the Gospel complicated. We make it about a yoke we were not intended to wear. When we who were saved by grace through faith begin to make the Christian life about works we are no different than the Galatians who were trying to finish in the flesh what had been started in the Spirit. We're like Moses who struck the rock rather than speaking to it. The Rock has been struck. The work has been finished. Our Passover Lamb told us so as He hung on the cross. When we obsess over our works, Christ's work takes a back seat. And that brings no glory to Christ. And God is all about His glory, not ours.
Paul tells us that whatever we do in word or deed, we are to do it all to the glory of God. So, brothers and sisters, whether you keep the Sabbath or keep the Lord's Day, whether you veil or do not veil, whether you trim your beard or do not trim it, whether you sit quietly and meditate on the day you choose for your Sabbath or go out and play basketball, if you can do it to the glory of God—and not to your own glory—then you are free to do it! But if you are doing it so you might glory or boast in what you are doing (or not doing), then you must refrain from that. Anytime our boast becomes our own works, our boast is no longer in Christ Jesus the Lord. He alone must have the preeminence. He alone must get the glory. We can boast in nothing and glory in nothing but Christ alone.
We must remember that our works do not atone for our sin. Our works do nothing to cleanse us. Our works do nothing to sanctify us. We either accept the righteousness of Christ or we repeat it.[3] If you have accepted Christ's righteousness and are truly resting in His righteousness and you are not trying one lick to make yourself righteous by your own works, then go ahead and walk out by His grace the convictions God has given you all to His glory. But if you are still trying to establish your righteousness by what you do, you need to go back to the cross and see that Christ has done it all for you. Like Paul we need to count all things loss and hold to and rest in Christ only. He alone is our justification and our sanctification. He alone is our whole salvation. Our righteousness does not come through our own works but through Christ's work for us on the cross (justification) and Christ's continuing work in us through His Holy Spirit (sanctification).
God will not share His glory with another. When we fixate on our works (either what we do or what we do not do), our faith is not fixed squarely in the cross. No work we do can ever justify or sanctify us, however good that work might be. Christ is our salvation from beginning to end. Let's let Him alone have all the praise, honor and glory for our salvation, for to Him alone all the praise, honor and glory is due for our salvation. When we lift Him up in that way, He will draw all men to Him. As you are fully convinced in your own mind, you are free to go and walk in the works God has directed you to do, but please do not boast in your works or judge others who may have different convictions than you about nonessential, doubtful or disputable matters.
I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other...Isaiah 42:8a.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 4:9-11.
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. Colossians 1:9-18.
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Psalm 115:1.
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:36.
2. When we focus on what we do or what we don't do, we are in danger of dividing the Church and dismantling the unity we have in Christ.
As soon as we start pointing fingers at one another saying, "I do this; you do that, and you are wrong," Satan has a field day. He loves to get a foothold in the Church and divide us.
This was happening in Jesus' day. The disciples were stressing out. "There are people who aren't with us. We're not really so comfortable with how they're doing things. They don't do things quite the way we do, you know. Hey, Jesus, they're not really real believers are they? They're not with us, after all?" (My paraphrase there.) Of course, you know how Jesus responded to that: For the one who is not against us is for us. Jesus reminds us that our essential unity in Him is not in what we do, but in what He did. He chooses whom He will place into His Body. His atoning blood binds us all to Him as well as to one another. His Spirit has birthed us into His family and makes us not only brothers and sisters with Jesus but with one another. Just like we didn't choose the members of the earthly family we were born into, we don't choose the members of the heavenly family we are born again into. Yes, our convictions on nonessential matters will differ (the apostle Paul reminds of this again and again), but when we focus on our own personal convictions about nonessential matters and make those things central, when elevate those things over and above the core doctrines of the Gospel, we are in effect cooperating with Satan to tear down the temple God is building.
Do we not so easily get caught up in arguing about nonessentials rather than focusing on the essentials? As some might put it, we major in the minors. And there is too much at stake for us to continue in that. There is a world of people out there who are perishing and need to hear the Gospel of Christ. We spend precious time in never-ending arguments with one another rather than coming together to take the Gospel to a lost world. Pretty much all of us get suckered into it. It is fine to discuss such secondary matters, but as we do so, we must always endeavor to keep the Spirit of unity and such matters ought never be our primary concern. When we get into such secondary matters, we begin to open the door invite a spirit of disunity to come into the Church. When we look more at what we disagree about rather than what agree about, we can too easily get sidetracked from running the race set before us. As we focus on those secondary things rather than the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, we soon forget we are all bought by the blood of the Lamb and united in Him, and we often begin to attack one another. And here's something for all of us to consider: instead of taking time to defend ourselves and our point of view on such secondary matters, wouldn't we do much more to bring the Kingdom to earth by using that time to pray for revival in the Church and for hungry and open hearts receive the Gospel.
It's true Christianity is an exclusive religion, there is only one way to the Father, through Jesus Christ. But through Jesus Christ the door has been opened wide: "Whosoever will may come." We cannot exclude anyone who comes to Christ in faith. We cannot exclude anyone Jesus is welcoming. That is the glorious heritage of the Church. People from every tongue, tribe and nation, neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, and so forth...we are all one in Christ Jesus. We are to welcome one another for the glory of God, even when we may hold different convictions than others on nonessential matters. We must allow our brothers and sisters the freedom to remain true to their convictions. We need to welcome our brothers and sisters for when we don't welcome one another, we are not welcoming Christ Himself (Matt. 25). Yes, please consider that for a moment and let that sink in...
We have all been baptized into Christ. We have an essential unity there. He is our Head. We are all His joint-heirs, we are brothers and sisters with Him and with one another. Paul tells us to endeavor to keep the unity of the faith. Why does he have to do this? Because we tend to tear down and rip apart the unity we have in Christ. We go ahead and screw things up and do so royally time and again. Christ has united us to Him and to one another. We are married to Him and therefore in relationship with His whole Body, no exceptions. We don't choose the other members of the family. Just as He's chosen us, He's chosen them. Yet don't we so often continue to focus on how we differ rather than to look at how we are the same? Can we not instead seek to see Jesus in our brothers and sisters and go beyond those incidental differences? Can we not see one another as partakers of the same divine nature? Can we not see one another as sinners saved by the free grace of God? We are only in Christ by the free gift of God's grace.
The God-given unity we have in Christ is unequalled and unsurpassed and unknown in the world. There is nothing else like it. God's Spirit takes those who were His enemies and those who were opposed to one another and births us all into His family through by grace through faith. This is an amazing thing! Yet how often do we see the epistles addressing problems with disunity. Remember that the Church is Satan's playground. He loves to divide us. He loves to pit us against one another. Brothers and sisters, these things ought not to be! Let us not allow him to get a foothold and continue to divide us. Let us not be his pawns and dupes in this battle. Let us have eyes to see the devil's schemes and stand up to him and look beyond our differences and love one another with the love Christ has loved us. Let us move beyond our nonessential differences to stand together firm in the faith, so we might advance the Kingdom of God in the world. Let us love one another and so fulfill the law of Christ so the world might know Christ and we might show the world we are His disciples. If we allow Satan to divide us, when we backbite and accuse one another, when we focus on what divides us, how will the world see the love of Christ in us?
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35.
And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one...I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:11, 15-26.
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-6.
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Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
Let all that you do be done in love.Here's Dr. Lloyd-Jones on the state of the church in August 1942. I think we can see ourselves here...
Do we realize that we have been bought with a price, that we are not our own? Do we remember that we are co-workers with God? Have we an active and lively sense of the fact that we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, not merely that we might be saved from the punishment of hell, but that God, through us, might bring to pass His own great purposes and plans in this world? Have we seen ourselves in the eternal plan and scheme? Have we seen ourselves as the hands and the feet of this mystical body of the eternal Christ? Surely that is something which we have been tending to lose sight of. Have we, further, realized that opposed to us is a mighty adversary; that all the powers of Satan and evil and hell are arrayed against us? Are we not seeing even in these present times a manifestation of certain evil spirits and malign powers and forces? And if we see in the life of the church the manifestation of these evil powers, how much more so those evil forces that are leading to moral degeneracy in our own land and in other lands. have we realized that the ultimate object of the enemy is not simply to destroy us, but is, above all, to frustrate the schemes and plans of God? Oh, the tragedy is surely that we are like the church at Corinth, that we are unaware of this spiritual conflict! While the devil and his forces were fighting to destroy the church, they were dividing up into these various factions and were arguing about their respective ideas and respective philosophies. They were dividing themselves up into little groups and little sects, then were comparing their spiritual gifts. And while they were quarrelling amongst themselves the influence of the church was being weakened and her impact upon the evil city of Corinth was becoming smaller and smaller. Is not that the position in which we find the church of God at this hour? We are quarreling about our shibboleths and arguing about our ceremonies and ritual, differing from each other in the way we dot our i's and cross our t's, and arguing about secondary and third-rate things. While the church is thus divided, and is quarrelling and arguing, the world is in the welter of a great war and the people in this and other lands are departing further and further form a knowledge of God. What are we to do about it? Here is the order of the day. "Wake up, " says the apostle. "Rouse yourselves." And having done so, "Stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.' Let all things be done with love." [4] "IN ESSENTIALS UNITY, IN NON-ESSENTIALS LIBERTY, IN ALL THINGS CHARITY."
Forgive us, O God, when we make your gift of salvation all about us
and not about You.
Give us a greater vision of Your glory and the glory of Your Gospel.
Forgive us, O God, when we do not welcome one another and love one another
for Your sake.
Give us a greater heart of love for our brothers and sisters, Your children.
You may also be interested in reading:
Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Scripture quotations marked "NKJV™" are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "The Christian in an Age of Terror: Selected Sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1941-1950", ed. Dr. Michael Eaton (Grand Rapids, Mi: Kregel Publications), see Part 5: "The Order of the Day," Chapters 20-24.
[2] A.J. Gordon, "The Missionary Debt" in "Classic Sermons on World Evangelism" compiled by Warren W. Wiersbe (Grand Rapids, Mi: Kregel Publications, 1999), 135.
[3] This is variation of a quote from Karl E. Olsson's book, "Passion" (New York: Harper and Row, 1963), 69. Olsson wrote:
I have a friend who spends time helping people with their feelings. For a man who deals constantly with human unhappiness, he is a singularly free and joyous person. It is his testimony after seeing and hearing the troubles of hundreds of people that either we accept the atonement of Christ or we repeat it. That is, either we believe that the thing which happened on Calvary is adequate for us or we proceed to do it over again in our own strength. All around us, my friend tells me, there are people who are punishing themselves in their effort to atone for their own sins and for the sins of others. They sicken, or smoulder with mysterious rages, or impose terrible burdens on themselves; they wear themselves out in fruitless and joyless activity.
(See my original post "Either we accept the atonement of Christ or we repeat it.")
[4] Lloyd-Jones, Chapter 20: "General Introduction and Strategy," 224-225. This sermon was preached in August 1942.
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The times I've had to leave churches or when churches have split have been some of the most heart-wrenching events in my life. Will be praying for you & your church body. Keep looking to Jesus. Remember He's interceding for all of you and weeping with you as well.
It is a timely blog at this time. I've been thrown around a bit in doubt and confusion. My husband says that this is one of my weakest points. If someone presents a different doctrine or a different biblical thought than what I already believe, I start to doubt what I know, and become confused and lose my way. (whether it's when I'm discussing doctrinal differences with a Roman Catholic friend, or reading certain things on xanga or discussing with Jehovah Witnesses) ...... this is such a poignant reminder that our life is not about us. It's about CHRIST and Him Crucified! The only good thing to come out of Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Life" is the statement "It's not about YOU!" 
