I walk through this life wrestling with spiritual issues as christians sometimes do. I have stood in front of hundreds of people and sang songs that have touched peoples hearts. I have had christians snub their noses at me when in my weakness I have fallen. I have known and sensed the very presence of God and struggled when through sin have wondered if I will ever have a relationship with God again. I have had friends who have stood by me in my failures and have friends who have deserted me at those times. I have tried to live the "perfect" christian life only to have the reality of my imperfections crush me. I have had my pride broken and felt the power of God's hand humbling me. Yes I struggle with temptations and sin. If we are honest we all do.
As my good friend has told me on many occasions when I was coming to grips with my imperfections "welcome to the real world". Thinking you have to be perfect is only pride. This does not mean we don't keep striving for perfection but we will only be perfect when our bodies are finally transformed when we get to heaven. I have come to understand to a greater degree Paul's conflict he wrote about in Romans on why do I do what I don't want to do.
My dad who was a minister had a heart of wanting to see people come to Jesus as their personal savior, yet he had his set of rules that he ensured people had to adhere to if they did come to Christ. A few weeks before he passed away I was in the hospital visiting him and talking to him about things you do when you know you are dying. My dad looked at me with tears streaming down his face and remorse in his voice as he asked me a very powerful question. How many people had he turned off from becoming a christian or turned away from being a christian because he was so dogmatic about the do's and don'ts if you are a christian. It nearly broke my heart and people I do not ever want to see another christian die with those haunting words echoing through their minds and hearts as they come to the end of their lives it is really sad. I believe near his last days my dad came to realize that God works in each of us as individuals not as man figures how they should be. I think it is a lesson we all can learn from, I have. You see as the bible says man looks at the outward but God looks at the heart. It is the heart that God wants to change and as he changes us from within there will be changes on the outside. Sometimes the things that christians look at and figure a christian shouldn't be doing aren't necessarily the things that God wants to work on in a persons life at that particular time in their lives. Remember King David the sins he committed, yet he was a man after God's heart. Why, because he asked for forgiveness when he recongnized sin in his life. Would we welcome David into our circles , our churches today knowing what he had done?
You know if a person has hit his finger with a hammer you don't heal it by continuing to hit that same finger with a hammer over and over. It will never heal and there will finally come a time when that person will not want your help any more. The same is true for a person who has sinned or fallen. If we keep hammering them about what they have done, keep pointing our fingers keep ostersizing them, will we restore that person or cause them to really turn their hearts away from God. I speak from some degree of experience in this area. There are those who still point fingers at me and those that still keep throwing my failures up in my face for what purpose I am not sure. So why do we do that as christians ( I have done the same as well)? Does it make us feel better because "we never did that or fell like that." How do we demonstate God's love by doing that (we don't). So many Christians have forgotten how deep and how wide God's Mercy and Grace is. When you have experienced it you really can't find the words to explain it. We forget that we are all sinners, no matter how little you think you have sinned you are still a sinner. Where is there a degree of sin in the Bible sin is sin and we must remember Jesus's sacrifice on the cross was for all sins, gossip,lying,stealing, murder, adultry, idolitry,gluttony etc. As it says in the Bible if we say we have no sin we are liars, think about that. It is God's Grace and Mercy that has saved us we could never be good enough and we could never deserve it. If we got what we deserved for our sins we would not be able to stand.
I came to this conclusion one night as I felt I may never have a relationship with God again. I was looking up at the stars kind of talking with God, wondering asking, when he spoke to me and gave me the following words, words that I wondered how they could come to pass but they are slowly and in his time, I hope you learn and get some encouragement from them.
The Broken Vessel
Written by Darrell C. Wiebe
Shards of clay lying on the ground fragments and pieces, remnants
Of what once was a beautiful vessel just scattered in chaotic order
The master potter with tears in his eyes knew how this beautiful piece of pottery
He had created had fallen into what looked like splinters
The sweeper came to discard the broken vessel, the master stopped him with raised hand
“You cannot have them, they are my creation, and I alone will take care of this vessel”
The master pondered, over this creation that lay broken before him
“I will put it back together piece by piece until once again, I will see its beauty”
So the master set to work, taking each fragment and setting them
On his work table, laying them out until they were all before him
He remembered how he had taken a lump of clay and formed it by his hand
Until it was the right shape and added colours til it was the beauty he desired
Now there would be scars and some pieces missing, but he
Would fill them in until this vessel was restored close to its beauty
So he worked, for hours, days and years, but slowly it began
To take shape and a glimmer of joy was seen in his eyes
Oh, how I love this creation of mine I can see already how it will shine
A bit of time and it will be put back together, and it again will be mine
Finally all the pieces he had were put back together, the lines
Of separation he filled with his hand and just a few scars remained
There you go my beautiful creation mended and pieced together again
Though you fell and were shattered and broken, my hands have cared and restored
I will put you on my shelf for display so the world can se your beauty
I will fill you with my water and you will hold it in you
All who gaze and see you will know, it was my hand that completely restored
Some scars will fade while others stay it is I who created and it is I who heal
So go reflect my Glory once again to a world, that waiting to see
What I can do with the broken soul and I will take pride
In all that you do, for you were shattered but I mended and healed
And always remember this “I love you, my beautiful creation”
© January 4, 2006 Darrell C. Wiebe all rights reserved
My dear friend has told me Darrell I would rather error on the side of Compassion than of Condemnation. So where do we stand. Is it our condemnation that will restore or is it compassion. I believe had God not kept tugging at my heart, I would have totally walked away from him had I listened to the condemnation that I had gotten by so many " Christians". Let us be those who show compassion, let us be those that restore. I am so tired of seeing christians shooting the wounded, let us heal the wounded and show what God's love is really about. We are to be different than the world on how we deal with people so lets be different let us love poeple back into the fold or into the fold for the first time. Don't let the do's and don'ts be our guide to how a person should be, allow God to do his work.
So where do you stand today in the restoration process "Condemnation or Compassion"
God Bless you on your spiritual journey
DCW
Very profound my friend. I want to write more, but don't know if this is for your eyes only. Take care and know, your "true friends" are not pointing any fingers.
ReplyDelete