Are you louder than your naysayers?

The naysayers are louder these days but I’m willing to bet I’m louder.

It’s been awhile since we had time to chat and it’s cold outside, so grab a warm drink and have a seat in a comfy chair by the fire place.

So let me put it all out there, I don’t usually stress but for the past few weeks stress has been clinging to me like Velcro on polyester. Yep that bad. Earlier this week I attended a workshop and during the workshop I was asked, “What does your crisis look like?” I went over my weekend and was irritated about things like being delayed in traffic, on my way home from Austin. I struggled with the rental car process and that really almost put me over the edge. I struggled with it being Sunday and that meant Chick-fil-A was closed. You know I could go on but I’ll spare you all the “crisis” in my life. Well I sat a little longer thinking about the “crisis” in my life and when asked the only word that I could form was SELFISH. That’s what my crisis looks like, SELFISH.

Ya selfish especially after I think of some of the families I know! I know an elderly woman that has $1.30 to her name, till the end of the month. I know a family with 6 children and three of them are little bitty and they are hungry and there is no food in the fridge. I know a working homeless momma that is looking for a place so she can have all her children under one roof for Thanksgiving. I know a momma that is about to be evicted with her three little ones. I know a momma with a little one and no heat in her home. I could go on but I won’t. I guess what I am trying to say is that there are greater crisis out there. If we stop, just for a minute and look at our blessings, just long enough to realize that maybe our “crisis” aren’t so bad. There is a world full of people that have real struggles and that live in crisis daily.

I am reminded that in Matthew 22:36-40 it reads “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Are we doing this? I get so caught up in myself that I can honestly say no. I am not doing this to the magnitude that the Gospel I believe in instructs me to.

Ok so I’ve been in the Old Testament and as hard as I’ve looked I haven’t found anywhere that speaks about me serving myself. I haven’t dug too deep in the New Testament but I’m willing to bet it won’t have anything about that in that section of the bible either.

  Hold on lets pause here and let me give you the opportunity to stop reading, consider not reading the rest. It may just save you some stress. Ok you had your shot and if you’re still reading, well here it goes. I was just thinking, if God is real and we believe the word of God, then why are we so caught up with serving the rich rather than serving the poor? We cater to our needs and we forget that the scripture is clear on who and how to serve. And we can’t even use the excuse “well I haven’t been called to serve the poor.” Because if you are a believer I am sorry to be the one to tell you but yes we are all called to serve the poor and there are close to 2000 scriptures woven in the Word of God that tells us just that. We get so comfortable in our beautiful churches with our cute little coffee shops and it’s enough to allow us to forget our purpose. I’m not judging because I too sit in a nice church with a nice coffee shop while my neighbors go without being loved. I am afraid that if we loved we couldn’t help but serve those that don’t quite fit into our pretty church on Sunday. If we loved as big as the Gospel instructs us to, this world would be different.

I applaud every one of you that no longer plays church but is the Church and there are so many of you out there. I applaud you because when we as Christians want to defend our behavior by declaring “we are just people”. When we drop the ball somehow. You are louder when you say “yes we are just people but there better be something different about us. Something that lets the world know that God is real. Something that shows the characteristics of Christ in us.” I am proud to have many friends that are atheist, agnostics, Hindu, Buddhist and many others and they love and serve like I wish I would.

Jesus as a believer let there be something different about me, let me see with Your eyes and love with your heart, so that I may be a light in this world. I pray God interrupts your life and not the naysayers.