Different-Just like me

I used to be under the illusion and/or impression that I was more fit to work with those that had grown up with similar experiences as myself.

A loving family.

A strong church in which I grew up learning and growing about God, salvation through Jesus, and all the other things that go along with that.

A Christian education.

A husband and the opportunity to mother two beautiful children.

However, time and experience. God's Word. The Holy Spirit's guidance. A little maturity. A lot of mishaps along the way is bringing me to a new revelation.

I'm as different as the rest of society.

It's not about being able to minister to those who are similar to us. It's about being able to share Jesus with those who are open and ready to be "different" than they are at the current moment.

That takes on many forms and riddles and conditions and actions.

For some that's turning from a lifestyle of drugs and alcohol. Others it means turning their back on depression that has haunted them for days, years, months. Some it means letting go of the fake
Christian facade and humbling asking Jesus to tear down their walls of pride. Still others are
desperately in need to simply FEEL again. Feel anything.
Love. Hope. Joy. Even sadness if properly placed.

Jesus came to "heal the sick".



The Pharisees felt they didn't need Him. In fact they KNEW they didn't need Him and went so far as to kill Him in order to shut Him up. He was messing with their way of life. Interfering with their religious business. They had walked with and served God their entire lives. Shouldn't they have the right to question this "crazy" man? He was going against everything that they had held to since the exodus of the Israelites. Before that even.

Yes, they did have the right to question Him! They did have the right to make sure that His life and words where lining up with Scripture. However, they couldn't see the forest for the trees. We see the
end. We know the Pharisees were wrong. They turned what once was a name associated with the holiest of people into a dirty word. "I could never have been a Pharisee! Why couldn't they see that He was the Son of God-God Himself in human form?"

Well, why can't we see that by placating those "certain" people, that often, we place ourselves in the same "set apart" group as they once did. Or worse yet, I believe we all have a little Pharisee blood pumping through our veins. Passed down from years of church attendance or self-righteous living.

Please don't get me wrong....

I in NO way mean to shed a negative light on holiness and Godly living. No way. In no means. Absolutely not. But I do want to consider my own heart attachment to the things that Jesus Himself
denounced so fervently.



"Do not look down on those around you."
"Love your neighbor as yourself."
We are to be "salt and light" not backbiting and bitter.
It was His last earthly breath that charged us to "go out into all the world" and "preach the Good News!"

The Homeless Church

Self-examination

Lamentations 3:40-42 
"Let me examine my ways and test them, and let me return to the Lord. Let me lift up my heart and my hands to God in heaven, and say: I have sinned..." 

This puts the responsibility squarely on our shoulders!

Let ME examine my ways and test them.

Let ME return to the Lord.

Let ME lift up my heart and my hands to God.

...and say, I have sinned.

Self-examination is always difficult. That's why most don't do it. 
It's easier to keep the bandage on the wound (or the hideous sin...because aren't they all?).


Psalm 17:3 
"Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin." 

Well, you go David! God sure wouldn't be able to say that about me. How about you?
The reality is that God is probing us. Examining us. Searching us. Testing us. All day. All night.
Is our life pleasing to Him? Are our words His words? Do our actions bring him fame or shame?

Psalm 27:2 
"Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind." 

David was ASKING God to test him, try him, and examine him. He was an open book. He was being honest. Why do we act like God doesn't catch on to our tricks? He sees it all!

Jeremiah 17:10
"I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." 

That is a humbling reality to acknowledge that God sees every part of us (actions, words, thoughts, motives) and rewards us accordingly.

That's not always a bad thing thought! PTL that he sees the intentions and motives of our heart when we are trying to please Him and others don't understand. When they misinterpret our motives, we need only to be concerned with what the Father thinks of us. He's the one we should be trying to please.

So....
go self-examine
and see what you find.