DIGGING IN THE DIRT OF THE CHURCH
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
From the beginning of the church one of the biggest problems has been in dealing with the dirt that people drag up on other people. In fact one of the hardest things to over come has been appeasing the nature of people in the church to prejudge others who try to come in. It is hard to deal with change for people, and it is hard to accept people who have turned their lives around as being genuine. That is one of the reasons that people move from place to place so that they might be accepted more readily.
Throughout the history of the church we find this problem raising it's head. Some of the more prominent people that have turned their life around were people like Saul of Tarsus or who we know as Paul. We think of him simply coming on the scene and starting to teach and develop Churches with the Gentiles, but in truth it took Paul a long time to gain the trust of the church leadership, and then be accepted. Acts 9: begins the account of Paul's conversion and a great aftermath took place after that. It was so bad that for the first few years they sought to kill Paul in the synagogues, and he had to deal with leaving the Jewish tradition altogether. It was Paul who begin to shape the Christian faith leading people into a more direct pathway in Christ Jesus in worship and in scripture. In Acts 13: we begin to find him being mentioned again as a leader in the church in his work in Antioch. At that time he was still being called Saul, but from that time on he became known as Paul. Saul / Paul was given this name at birth one name given as a Roman name the other was the name he used in the Jewish faith. From this time one Paul was used as his Roman name with the gentiles.
It took a long time before trust could be built up between the church and Paul, and it was built because they saw the change in him and the power of Christ working through him on a daily basis. Some of the most difficult situations always come from those within the church. From the very beginning there has been the need for purging people from the Body that cause division and deceit among us like the account of purging that came with Acts 5: Ananias & Sapphira's lie to the Spirit of God. We cannot operate as we would in the world around us with Christ. There is always dirt in our lives that we try to hide from our past, but some how we need to turn that dirt into a rich soil to grow our faith and trust in Christ. There isn't anyone who is perfect, and there is no one who will ever be perfect...that is a part of the human condition, but mercy and love covers those sins with unity and a bond of peace that can be had in no other way but through Christ. We should not be afraid of the dirt of life since we are so much a part of it everyday...it is a part of the soil that makes us who we are. Hopefully as we grow to understand each other more we will be able also to get past the idea of getting dirty with one another as well. It makes us real people to those who are watching us in this world, and even though we are not perfect they can see that we are trying and real by sharing some of our failures and trust issues as we continue to grow. Dirt is a basic thing in life; so common and yet so necessary. It is my prayer that we will be able to use that dirt to cultivate better growth. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
From the beginning of the church one of the biggest problems has been in dealing with the dirt that people drag up on other people. In fact one of the hardest things to over come has been appeasing the nature of people in the church to prejudge others who try to come in. It is hard to deal with change for people, and it is hard to accept people who have turned their lives around as being genuine. That is one of the reasons that people move from place to place so that they might be accepted more readily.
Throughout the history of the church we find this problem raising it's head. Some of the more prominent people that have turned their life around were people like Saul of Tarsus or who we know as Paul. We think of him simply coming on the scene and starting to teach and develop Churches with the Gentiles, but in truth it took Paul a long time to gain the trust of the church leadership, and then be accepted. Acts 9: begins the account of Paul's conversion and a great aftermath took place after that. It was so bad that for the first few years they sought to kill Paul in the synagogues, and he had to deal with leaving the Jewish tradition altogether. It was Paul who begin to shape the Christian faith leading people into a more direct pathway in Christ Jesus in worship and in scripture. In Acts 13: we begin to find him being mentioned again as a leader in the church in his work in Antioch. At that time he was still being called Saul, but from that time on he became known as Paul. Saul / Paul was given this name at birth one name given as a Roman name the other was the name he used in the Jewish faith. From this time one Paul was used as his Roman name with the gentiles.
It took a long time before trust could be built up between the church and Paul, and it was built because they saw the change in him and the power of Christ working through him on a daily basis. Some of the most difficult situations always come from those within the church. From the very beginning there has been the need for purging people from the Body that cause division and deceit among us like the account of purging that came with Acts 5: Ananias & Sapphira's lie to the Spirit of God. We cannot operate as we would in the world around us with Christ. There is always dirt in our lives that we try to hide from our past, but some how we need to turn that dirt into a rich soil to grow our faith and trust in Christ. There isn't anyone who is perfect, and there is no one who will ever be perfect...that is a part of the human condition, but mercy and love covers those sins with unity and a bond of peace that can be had in no other way but through Christ. We should not be afraid of the dirt of life since we are so much a part of it everyday...it is a part of the soil that makes us who we are. Hopefully as we grow to understand each other more we will be able also to get past the idea of getting dirty with one another as well. It makes us real people to those who are watching us in this world, and even though we are not perfect they can see that we are trying and real by sharing some of our failures and trust issues as we continue to grow. Dirt is a basic thing in life; so common and yet so necessary. It is my prayer that we will be able to use that dirt to cultivate better growth. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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