2013
“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.”
“for those upon his soul were broken before by the abounding grace that filled his heart,”
John Bunyan
The walk of life with the Lord at our side is really difficult. All around us are people carrying on regardless, with no compunction to change whether they are Christian or not.
We are aiming toward being Christ like and falling short, we are in this race that we will win together. So when a sibling in Christ falters we have to be there to help them see “the error of their ways” But we should also be aware of the plank in our own eyes.
I have messed up, today already a few hours ago I messed up and landed on my knees with a bump. I am struggling with lack of sleep and it would be so easy for me to blame that for my issue. I went to BibleGateway.com and picked up the daily verse and this verse as so often happens is so pertinent to my life.
I haven’t fallen off any of the wagons, I have managed to remain smoke-free under severe pressure. I have been convicted by the Holy Spirit this week many times. That bitter taste in my mouth when I sat and listened to gossip, and didn’t call a halt to it. Gossip is vicious and in this case caused someone’s life path to be altered based on innuendo and no proof.
The leap that was made was not a faith leap, it was a leap of Gestalt theory of epic proportions.
Being open honest and real before the Lord and then with each other so that the Kingdom can be built up. The devil is in the detail. If we fill in the blanks we can fill them with anything.
For example a friend of mine when talking about something difficult stops halfway and says “You know what I mean” and sometimes I think I do and sometimes I have no idea. But not wishing to appear stupid I nod. Later I try and fill the blanks myself and sometimes I come up with relevance and sometimes I don’t.
Living a transparent life before the Lord and each other, We don’t have to hide our sins and pretend they don’t exist.
We are all sinners and not just in that vague abstract sense of being part of a fallen world and because of Adam we are sinners
NO
I mean each and every day, possibly every hour we sin. We lie, we cheat, we look at things we shouldn’t, we watch things we shouldn’t, we judge people, we gossip, we are just not nice.
On Sunday I asked someone to listen to the sermon in the context of a comment they had made. He had been sidelined, benched or put out of a situation and was aggrieved. Two days later they rang me and we cried together as he realised his own sin in the situation that was causing the sidelining. I pray that this situation will soon be resolved.
We all sin, but we have to, especially if we are in positions where people listen to us, we have to be open and honest in that sin to help grow other people up and if it means that person then takes our place we should rejoice.
Rejoice in the Lord always and again we say rejoice.
Dear Lord
Thank you for this week of learning for my friend and I. My sins are only a heart beat away, Lord help me find compassion to meet people in their point of pain, just like you did. Lord help me find the right words in times like this to builf the person up so they may become members of your family. Lord I love you and everything, transparently everything I do, think and say is only for your glory
Amen
Rebuilding Community 