Posted on 04/04/2007 10:15:14 AM PDT by Quix
Knitting a Conundrum: We are coming together in love, and to share the love of Christ, and therefore, even if we disagree, we need to remember to avoid things that are not said kindly and in love. Each of us holds our beliefs because we do it for the love of Christ, and even if you don’t accept the conclusion of a person, honor it by not saying harsh or hurtful things because it’s done to honor Christ.
Kind and respectful discourse. Avoid words that you know will cause a kneejerk reaction. If a person uses terminology that seems wrong to you, ask them to define it the way they use it, and accept the fact that it might be used differently than you use it. Together we can work on ways of discussing our love of Christ in a language we all understand.
Above all, treat others like fellow lovers of Jesus.
ONE ANOTHER DEVOTIONAL CHRISTIAN CAUCUS:
We construe that to mean—ABSOLUTELY NOTHING PERSONALLY NEGATIVE will be posted to another FREEPER Christian.
Generic Biblical points, MINOR, essential comments about flaws of generic groups of Christians MIGHT--with hopefully rare exception--MIGHT be allowed but are NOT to be the focus or emphasis of this thread.
We seek the awesome possibility that this thread could be an overwhelmingly positive example of:
We call and challenge ourselves and other BELIEVERS IN CHRIST AS THEIR LORD AND SAVIOR to respond to each ONE ANOTHER as posted for that day as though delivered from the hand or mouth of our Lord and Savior directly that day at the moment of first reading it.
By respond, we mean to prayerfully ponder it—FIRST—THEN type.
Ask The Lord where in one’s life HE would like to see that expressed more fully, earnestly, Spirit-led-ly, routinely.
Ask The Lord where in the FR Religion Forum network of RELATIONSHIPS it might be better expressed more faithfully as unto The Lord.
Share the resulting Spirit-born insights as led on the thread.
< If The Lord reminds one of where one has done well with that ONE ANOTHER to good effect in an individual’s life for The Kingdom and their relationship with God—sharing that in a humble, edifying way could be helpful.
Perhaps most redemptive would be a walking out of that ONE ANOTHER in a growthful, amplified way ON THE THREAD WITH ANOTHER FREEPER BELIEVER(S) with whom one has been less than ideally Christian in threads past.
Above all, let this thread more than any other prior— BE A VIVID EXAMPLE OF THE WORLD KNOWING WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER!
Accordingly:
1. Anything which arises out of our flesh nature—especially with a gritch, jab, tweak attached—particularly one designed to leave the other person one down and us one up.
2. Anything designed to/out of any motivation to shove our presumed saintliness and saintly perspective down anyone else’s, everyone else’s throat.
3. Anything which would detract from, sabotage the goal of a mutually supportive; mutually loving, mutually edifying CHRISTIAN CAUCUS thread. Anything UNloving.
1. Show ourselves and the world that we ARE CHRISTIANS by our LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER. If the flesh is weak, ASK GOD for more umph in the love department before finishing typing and hitting POST.
2. Build other posters up; edify; encourage; clarify; support; affirm; BE KIND; be gentle; . . . be CHRISTLIKE in word, tone, deed.
3. Word things as you might during your most fervent courtship--to a young gal/man you were hoping to marry—i.e. attractively, winsomely, invitingly, maturely, responsibly--LOVINGLY.
Romans 15:7
Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.
Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
Thanks thanks.
I just share as it comes. But I wonder if it would be better to parcel it out in chunks. Less overwhelmingly long?
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them
Now that is something to deeply meditate on.
Lord, you ask the hardest things sometimes,
to love those who hate us,
to act kindly towards those who wish to harm us,
to bless those who wish us dead.
O Lord, give me the strength
to break the chains of hate
that tie us to sin’s blackness,
weighing us down with anger,
and pain,
retaliation,
shame,
breeding darkness from darkness,
grief from grief..
When I see the depths of anger and hate that surrounds us,
I recoil in fear and disgust and disbelief,
for such a thing comes not from above,
no matter how much they do it in the name of God,
or Peace,
or Right,
or Self-determination.
Such things come only from the pit.
Teach me how to be an instrument of your peace
In an era fraught with danger, hate and night.
Touch my hands that they may act in peace
your way, for your reasons.
Touch my lips, that they may say words of blessing
the way you would have it be,
even to those who would harm me.
Touch my heart
That I may learn how to act lovingly
Even when my mind screams out for blood,
Help me to do this because you asked it,
Help me to do this through your help,
Help me to do this for your glory,
This day, and always,
Amen.
I went to the grocery store! LOL! We love you, Quix!
Yes and amen.
I don’t know how to discern in a precise refined way . . .
. . . a time to plant, a time to harvest . . .
a time to forgive . . . always time to forgive . . .
sometimes, though . . . a time to discipline and even punish. And, in terms of evil, to terminate.
Only Holy Spirit can guide in such bone from the marrow distinctions, I think.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood . . .
We must at least have the CAPACITY to hear God direct our hearts and actions lovingly toward an enemy in a given situation.
. . .
Thx
Ahhh.
thanks thanks.
LUB, TOO.
Love isn’t hippy eyeglasses, like a lot of people seem to think.
Love is seeing our fellow man as a child that God died to save, who has worth and value.
Love is forgiving, but forgiving doesn’t mean to abrogate your duties, to forget that the person you forgive for injuring you could be a danger, or that we seem to think love means.
Love means letting go of the hate. Love means to give up the reasons we use to treat our fellow as less than human. Love means to give up the prejudices, the hate chains we use to stop seeing a child beloved of God and create a lesser being.
It doesn’t mean that if you are a judge that you refuse to sentence the person because he did wrong. It means you base your judgement on the law and the need to keep society safe rather than your fear or hate of the group he is from. If you have been wronged, you forgive the person, but not necessarily be friends with him, but treat him with the respect due to him as a human and not carry him around as a burning coal in your heart. And so on and so forth.
Love is not necessarily an emotion, any more than forgiveness is. It is an act of will.
I strongly agree with all your excellent points.
Thanks.
Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
That is justice tempered with mercy, and mercy that goes beyond fairness, because of the desire to be in relationship with God. And that is a hard road God asks of us...But he walked it too...he knows our weaknesses, how bitter the dust is, how it hurts to be wronged, the helplessness when a victim of injustice, how it feels to know people hate you, want to kill you, what it’s like to be lied about and tortured and slandered and killed for political reasons. He himself did what he asks us to do.
We’ll fail from his standard from time to time and again, but he will pick us up if we let him, and help us dust off, and get back up the road.
And he tells us to do the same with those we come in contact with. Teaching by example.
PING TO THE NEW ONE ANOTHER DEVOTIONAL CHRISTIAN CAUCUS PING LIST
PING TO 5 APR 07’S “ONE ANOTHER”
and shameless ping to my response to it at post #90
PLEASE LET ME KNOW if you want on or off this list. It was compiled only from the replies and addressees listed in msgs.
Thanks for the ping! :)
Strongly agree. Great wisdom in your post.
Thx.
LUB,
Strongly agree. Great wisdom in your post.
Thx.
LUB,
James 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Amen.
Much agree.
Would you like on the
ONE ANOTHER DEVOTIONAL CHRISTIAN CAUCUS
Ping list?
Thank you so much for the beautiful meditation and prayer!
Thanks Thanks. Much appreciate your kind words.
As you know, I share it as it comes to me.
But I wonder . . . would it have been better to have broken it into chunks over different posts?
Hmmm ... breaking it up would have been more bumps for the thread, but you’d lose the train of thought...
That’s usually why I don’t.
There’s a flow to the way it comes and I hate to break that up.
Thanks tons for your perspective on it.
There are other ways to bump the thread.
THANK YOU, LORD, TO THE MAX:
1. That our Names are in The Lamb's Book of Life;
2. That You blotted our our transgressions in Your Priceless Blood;
. . .
3. That You separated us from our evil doings as far as the East is from the West;
4. That You threw them in the Sea of Forgetfulness--an awesome thing for an All Knowing God;
. . .
5. That You set us up on YOUR ROCK, CHRIST JESUS;
6. That You're constructing an eternal abode for us WITH YOU!
. . .
7. That You cherish us, Love us and Long for us to be more ever present, more fully present with You than we can imagine or understand.
Thank, You, Lord, that more than 2,000 years ago, you went into hell to set captives FREE and that IN YOU, we are FREE INDEED!
Thank you that Your Resurrection demonstrated that you have the keys to hell, death and the grave and that they have no hold on you, nor us IN you.
May You, Lord, this Good Friday, enliven us even more in the richness of Your Spirit; Your Eternal Resurrection Life; Your purposes and your goals for us in Your Kingdom and in our present earthly doings.
May we on this Good Friday willingly take our lesser preferences, waywardnesses, cussednesses, willfulnesses, gritches, grouches, gracelessness, lies to ourselves and others; arrogance, stubbornness, . . . all that exalts itself in us against Your Best, Oh, Lord--take it all to Your Cross and vigorously nail all such there by Your Grace, Spirit, Blood and help.
May we reckon ourselves dead and buried IN YOU, IN YOUR BLOOD, to rise again in Newness of Your Life.
May we take up today's cross for us and bear it in thankfulness that Your yoke is easy and Your burden light as we learn to nestle IN YOU vs wrestle against Your purposes for us.
May we persistently confess from our hearts that we forgive ALL against ALL because we want that level and depth and breadth of forgiveness from You and from DADDY. Let us not just mouth the words of Your prayer but pause at that point and contract eternal business on the FORGIVENESS score.
Then let us follow through with the phone call, the note, the visit, the confession to ANOTHER--ALL ANOTHERS fitting that we do forgive them utterly because Your forgive us utterly and require no less of us.
Let us leave our gifts at the altar and make it right first with ANOTHER as You have commanded.
Then, Lord, let us walk and skip and dance with You in Your newness of Life Everlasting; in Your strengthening Joy; in Your Peace, wholeness, provision, safe arms--IN YOU.
In Your Precious, Priceless Name, Oh, Lord. Amen.
Amen.
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