REMEMBERING

  For many years now I have been writing thoughts concerning various ways that God has been trying to get us to reach out to Him.  I can remember how my own journey has changed me over the many years I have written, and how many times as I have gone into a deeper study on subjects I have actually changed my mind about certain doctrines of belief I have held over the years.

 As I have developed a better sense of who I am as a Christian I have found some very interesting patterns develop within me that doesn't really hold completely to any one doctrine or creed.  This has caused me in many ways to find myself separated from most of the mainstream creeds and doctrines that govern the established churches I have at times been a part of in my life.  In a positive way, this has also allowed me to fellowship with many of those churches that cannot or will not fellowship with one another because I can hold at least to the part of their beliefs that follow after Christ's own doc5trine of the Good News which He was sent to share with us.  In a huge way, I have found that by stepping back from all of the mainstream doctrines I can get a glimpse of what Jesus was actually trying to say to us without getting caught up in a " Us versus them" attitude that becomes so terribly destructive between most believers and the unity that God has wanted us to achieve with one another.

  In my personal quest to find a balance for all Christians to use to bridge that creed and doctrine gap between us, I have found only one thing that is constant.  I found that many times and places in the early stages of the church the Apostles had to come back into the church and tear down those things that were developing within the body that started to separate people from one another.  The Corinthian church was one such example of this kind of behavior when Paul was forced to tell them
 " at a time when you should be teachers of the word of God I have the need to come back and teach you again the milk of the word because you cannot understand the deeper things of God".
 That kind of statement tells me that our general tendency toward changing God's word by inserting our own interpretation has been around from the very beginning of the church.  We can even see Jesus dealing with the results of the Sanhedrin's tampering with the laws of Moses by the hypocrisy they had to write amendments to laws that they did not care for.

  All of this behavior is due to the nature of the physical man to control all around him and to elevate himself to a higher place within his own mind.  The truth of God's word does not change, however, and we will be held to the real meaning of that message to us at the end of things.  We cannot simply dismiss this behavior by saying "that's the way we are" throwing our hands in the air and walking away!  At some point, we must come to terms with the truth that what God has said from the beginning is the way it must be without our thoughts added, redactions made, or approval given.

  We have no recourse except that of getting rid of these thoughts, creeds, and doctrines that have for so long caused separation from one another; and then come back to the basics of the Good News from Jesus Christ; back to the very foundations of our faith, and then begin to build anew.  I want to address this issue somewhat this week as we strive to remember who we have been meant to be. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.


THE UNWORTHY SERVANT