One minute friend, next minute foe (How to feel at least one way Jesus felt)

11/30/2012

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     Just got off the phone with a broken hearted pastor friend of mine going through a brutal beating right now. (I got his permission to blog on this). He's a great man of God. I find myself extremely Blessed to never have been through what he's going through, but broken hearted for what he is going through. After all, he's a friend. Real friends feel for one another, good and bad. Don't get me wrong. I've had my disappointments, my hurts, my pains. I've felt as abandoned as the next pastor who poured himself into people, only to be hated for his decision/opinion/council. 
But nothing like my friend is going through. He feels brutally betrayed. I've known him long enough to know his character and have 0 reason to NOT believe him. He's led a godly lifestyle and from a insane point of humility. He puts Christ first and his calling at a very high level. He's a servant/pastor to the core. He just feels betrayed. He feels forgotten, he feels abandoned.

     If people are FUNNY, then people mixed with ministry is HYSTERICAL.  The servant/pastor type can struggle with this as my friend is right now. It's amazing how you can literally be a hero one day, and totally despised and forgotten the next. I listened to my friends story and felt for him. I've talked to a lot of pastors who have gone through this. If my friends church really stopped to think of how much he loves, has sacrificed, and would do (and has done) anything for them, they would probably be embarrassed by their actions. They've forgotten his heart for them (haven't we all done this to someone at some point?).  They don't like one thing, and they've let that one (non-essential thing) to define their relationship now. It's the sin of immaturity, and it can tear churches, but more importantly people apart.

      I scrambled my brain for scripture as he was unloading his story on me. I couldn't think of anything! I couldn't think of one story, one Psalm, even Solomon abandoned me. So I listened, I encouraged, we prayed, and the only thing I could think of to tell him was the thing that should comfort us all when we feel we've invested and then feel abandoned. 

3 powerful words.


JESUS 
CAN 
RELATE
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Erasing the line in the sand....

11/4/2011

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John 8:3-11 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the sand with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”


       Jesus wore many titles, none greater the Son of God, my Messiah. But there's a certain title Jesus holds to me as a "provocateur", or someone who "provokes". He could rustle up some type of emotion, or just some good ol' fashioned dissension. In this particular scripture he is brought a woman caught in adultery, brought before him to be judged. SET THE SCENE BABY, THE LINE HAS BEEN DRAWN IN THE SAND! The pharisees (oh silly pharisees) are calling Jesus to make a clear judgement upon her. It's a slam dunk case. She was caught in the act! 

(My note:  I find it crucial to point that to the Pharisees it is not that they cared what SHE did, but how HE judged. Their own intentions of finding someone in the midst of sin was even off base according to their hearts. "VS 9 that they might have something of which to accuse Him".

Bella Principal: So literally theres a bunch of guys in robes running around trying to find an affair in action......AWWWWWKKKKKWWWWWARD!). 

      What does Jesus do here? What any provocateur would (fight me on Jesus NOT leading with sarcasm and I will bite your ear off). He starts building a sand castle (see sarcasm threat) "But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the sand with His finger, as though He did not hear"). Jesus never loses his cool, you never see him sweat. 
What you do see, is him disempowering the pharisees. By writing, he's actually erasing.

Those who came to provoke, stood in front of the king of provocation. Jesus brought dissension in the spirit of defense. By playing in the sand, Jesus erased the line of Legalism, the line of pride, the line of arrogance, the line of self-righteousness. Jesus, by writing in the sand, actually erased the lines drawn by men in the sand.

Bella Principal: People will accuse, hurt, wound and kick you in the teeth. These are lines being drawn, and you are being dared to cross them to start a fight, lose your peace, and act out irrationally. Be patient, find the peace of God, seek forgiveness and give it freely,  and erase the lines in the sand.

j
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