Thoughts related to my life. Thoughts related to other people's lives.
Thoughts impacted by recent books read.
Thoughts impacted by recent blog posts read.
Thoughts impacted by recent blog posts read.
My pastor wrote this one about drawing lines in the sand.
This woman is an acquaintance from the old homeschool days.
She wrote about what devotion really is.
And she also said she thinks truth is not very popular.
This new online friend wrote about why she thinks its hard to have a good discussion about deep things.
She thinks we shouldn't get our panties in a bunch so easily. I think she is right.
I want to learn to talk about important things, without being super sensitive.
I want to be able to affirm that God's Word is truth,
but admit that I don't always understand it rightly.
I want to be careful to read the Bible, to see what God commands of us,
but also what He does not command of us.
I want to show people more grace, without withholding truth.
This woman is an acquaintance from the old homeschool days.
She wrote about what devotion really is.
And she also said she thinks truth is not very popular.
This new online friend wrote about why she thinks its hard to have a good discussion about deep things.
She thinks we shouldn't get our panties in a bunch so easily. I think she is right.
I want to learn to talk about important things, without being super sensitive.
I want to be able to affirm that God's Word is truth,
but admit that I don't always understand it rightly.
I want to be careful to read the Bible, to see what God commands of us,
but also what He does not command of us.
I want to show people more grace, without withholding truth.
13 comments:
The balance between truth and love can be very hard sometimes...especially when it comes to people we are very close to...I've dealt with this a lot and am not very good at it. :) My pattern up to this point is often "truth before friendship" (I think they call people like me Machenites - after J. Gresham Machen).
It depends on the issue at hand...but I think Christians often lose sight of the essentials. OFTEN. When it comes to issues of theology (skirts or pants? stay at home daughters or college education? homeschooling or not?) it so easy to let the smaller issues tear us apart when it's the bigger issues - the essentials! - that should be uniting us.
It's also difficult to be committed to God's word first and not try to interpret it in ways that suit our feelings.
I don't know if I actually have a point except that I hear you and know these feelings... :)
Thanks Laura! (It is so nice to hear your thoughts & know you've really been here. :) )
A lot of what is on my mind is the smaller issues. You've hit on some good ones! The things that many of us have very good reasons for choosing. And, they seem important. But.... maybe God was less dogmatic about schedules & ingredients & college education & (on & on & on) then we are. I have some sort of post brewing in my brain. Hopefully it makes it way out onto the blog.
I love that you are a life long learner. What an awesome quality to foster!
I find that being a student of life in general, for all my life, is a huge goal of mine. I never want to stop learning.
For me, I've learned that the Internet (for whatever reason) is just a really bad place to share deep thoughts or emotions. My Mom says its because people can't see your face or hear your tone. I'm not sure... I just know whatever blog I visit, or whatever website I see, there seems to be an outpouring of haters that like to shut people like that up. It makes me sad, but again, encouraged in person, face to face relationships more - which I'm a huge fan of :)
Stef, I have some thoughts about if it is good to blog about deep or important stuff or not. Hopefully I can put those into a coherent post, too.
Erin, I read that post by Emerging Mummy too. And realize I have things to work on when it comes to discussions. It helps when, for example, Dad clues me in that I am getting too heated! - Which happened on Saturday, lol! Allows me to step back and get back into the actual discussion.
I do feel though that I have a good group of friends who I have deep discussions with, and who even if things get heated at the time, we all are set on resolving things before departing so we still stay close and un-offended. (This obviously includes family!)
Actually in the discussion on Saturday which I got momentarily too heated, Mom made a good point about those littler things you are talking about. She said that she read a book about God having 3 different types of Wills. One being the one that are His black and white commandments. We KNOW how to follow those. The other things in life fall into other categories... she gave the example of a Christian boss hiring someone who is a homosexual. Some people might say "I can't hire them, they are living in sin!" Others might be fine with it. But really, this is an area outside of God's Commandments. We don't have a clear cut and dry path to follow on this issue, knowing for sure that we are following God's Will. Not sure if I am making sense, but ask Mom about the book- it sounded really good.
Ok, I'll admit it. It's hard for me to accept the fact that God made people different that me! And, Lord, PLEASE help me to understand this as my children get older!! It's a challenge for me to find the balance of convictions for why I/we've chosen to do/believe certain things and the acceptance of some of the other ways to do/believe things. This is why it would be good for us all to get together to talk about this stuff in person! SO hard to write about, especially in a comment! But, always good to be thinking about. I find I do my best (or maybe just most) of my thinking washing dishes or in the shower.
Erin, I look forward to that post!
Two books I would highly (highly) recommend on these topics are War of Words and Foolproofing Your Life. Both are amazingly excellent and both have been so very eye opening to Jason and me.
Also, the church we go to here in WA is very much all about keeping our focus on Christ and not getting so caught up in everyone's private business, or trying to be the "personal/Internet police" to everyone else around us. When its sin, we ought to be loving Christians about it and point it out (in a private setting, not bringing focus or glory to ourselves)- try and help, be gracious with one another as God has been so gracious with us. When its just a personal preference or something that irritates us, let it go. We're not little gods. We're all sinners, called to serve the Lord and spread His amazing free gospel.
So my goal over the past few months has been learning (as you wrote about) on how to present that truth in love. Also learning how to control my anger (even if my anger doesn't actually show on the outside) when something offends me or someone down right insults me. I struggle with becoming so obsessive over it and so 'personally' hurt. Soon, it becomes ALL about me and I've lost sight of bringing Christ out in every situation.
Anyway... sorry for the ramble. I do look forward to your post! I still like deep, emotional stuff online. I think its great when we can have deeper, more meaningful "iron sharpening iron" conversations with one another!
So honoured for the link! I'm still working through this and haven't quite figured it out (will I ever? I doubt it!) but I really appreciate your perspective as well as all of the comments. Much wisdom. xo
So honoured for the link! I'm still working through this and haven't quite figured it out (will I ever? I doubt it!) but I really appreciate your perspective as well as all of the comments. Much wisdom. xo
Erin, I look forward to that post!
Two books I would highly (highly) recommend on these topics are War of Words and Foolproofing Your Life. Both are amazingly excellent and both have been so very eye opening to Jason and me.
Also, the church we go to here in WA is very much all about keeping our focus on Christ and not getting so caught up in everyone's private business, or trying to be the "personal/Internet police" to everyone else around us. When its sin, we ought to be loving Christians about it and point it out (in a private setting, not bringing focus or glory to ourselves)- try and help, be gracious with one another as God has been so gracious with us. When its just a personal preference or something that irritates us, let it go. We're not little gods. We're all sinners, called to serve the Lord and spread His amazing free gospel.
So my goal over the past few months has been learning (as you wrote about) on how to present that truth in love. Also learning how to control my anger (even if my anger doesn't actually show on the outside) when something offends me or someone down right insults me. I struggle with becoming so obsessive over it and so 'personally' hurt. Soon, it becomes ALL about me and I've lost sight of bringing Christ out in every situation.
Anyway... sorry for the ramble. I do look forward to your post! I still like deep, emotional stuff online. I think its great when we can have deeper, more meaningful "iron sharpening iron" conversations with one another!
Erin, I read that post by Emerging Mummy too. And realize I have things to work on when it comes to discussions. It helps when, for example, Dad clues me in that I am getting too heated! - Which happened on Saturday, lol! Allows me to step back and get back into the actual discussion.
I do feel though that I have a good group of friends who I have deep discussions with, and who even if things get heated at the time, we all are set on resolving things before departing so we still stay close and un-offended. (This obviously includes family!)
Actually in the discussion on Saturday which I got momentarily too heated, Mom made a good point about those littler things you are talking about. She said that she read a book about God having 3 different types of Wills. One being the one that are His black and white commandments. We KNOW how to follow those. The other things in life fall into other categories... she gave the example of a Christian boss hiring someone who is a homosexual. Some people might say "I can't hire them, they are living in sin!" Others might be fine with it. But really, this is an area outside of God's Commandments. We don't have a clear cut and dry path to follow on this issue, knowing for sure that we are following God's Will. Not sure if I am making sense, but ask Mom about the book- it sounded really good.
Stef, I have some thoughts about if it is good to blog about deep or important stuff or not. Hopefully I can put those into a coherent post, too.
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