| This one will be a short post — because it’s about being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. The famous words from James 1:19 have never been more true. Especially during an election year.
Instead of me writing a long epistle about the merits of quick listening and slow speaking (and slow angering), perhaps this would be the perfect time for those reading this to just pause…take a deep breath…and reflect on what this means. Where have we failed in this lately? How can we get better? Ask God to give you the strength to be a quick listener, a slow speaker, and a slow angerer. Much trouble can be saved by saving many words… |
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January 2012
Monthly Archive
Sat 7 Jan 2012
Wed 4 Jan 2012
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Fair warning — this is a very cynical post. It doesn’t mean to assert that every experience is or will be this way, but the sad truth is that more likely are than are not.
I used to be a worship leader. That is, I used to lead a band standing on a stage in front of hundreds of people singing spiritual songs. It was a tremendous experience, and one which I cherish to this day. It’s a great feeling to feel the Spirit move in worship. But it’s also a great feeling to know that I helped the Spirit to move…or maybe that I caused the Spirit to move. Looking back on that time (now that some years have passed), I find myself questioning what it was that I actually accomplished. Did I really do anything that God wasn’t already planning on doing in that service? Was anybody really touched by God’s presence — or were they simply impressed with our musical ability? Did anybody’s life change as a result of our worship? Or, just as a can of cheap room freshener can temporarily remove the smell of rotting garbage from a room, did we only manage to cover up people’s real problems for a short time with music and singing, just to have them return as soon as the service was over (and the “fragrance” dissipated)? |
Mon 2 Jan 2012
I’m not real big on New Year’s resolutions, but if it’s something you should be doing anyway, then I say “go for it!” As for me…I’m going to try to write a new article every Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting today. We’ll see how it goes. If you start to become a fan of thechurchblog and notice that I’ve been slacking, please feel free to shoot me. I mean, shoot me an email!