Loving others as themselves

Here I go again. God has really given me a passion for this subject lately. I have been doing some studying and researching about this subject, and it's not a new subject. It's been going on for years....thousands of years. I found this great article on Christianity.com today saying that many Americans say the biggest sin is that of intolerance. And the ones committing this sin the most, according to many Americans....Evangelical Christians! This is so frustrating to me!
As one who didn't accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior until I was 30, I can see the side of those saying this. This was one of the biggest things that scared me off from wanting anything to do with being part of a church. BUT....as I have learned and what I hold on to every day, is that it's not about other people, it's about my personal relationship with Jesus and it's between God and me! Wow! What a wonderful thought that just makes me excited that He is part of my life! That gives me comfort when I'm feeling frustrated. I grew up believing in God and Jesus, but never had that personal, intimate relationship as I do now. I just thought that by being a good person (most of the time) would get me into heaven. I must have missed reading John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" or Ephesians 2:8, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." Boy, was I missing out on the most loving relationship a person can have...WITH GOD! I had the head knowledge, but not the heart knowledge. I'm also not saying good deeds aren't good. Luke 6:45 says, "A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart. Whatever is in your heart determines what you say." When you are living your life for Jesus and He is in your heart, you will want to do good for Him.
I had a great conversation with one of my closest friends last night. We were talking about how people act one way while at church or around other Christians and then act totally different any other time. Let me just say, I know I am guilty of this myself. The reason I do this, is because I feel like I'm being judged/watched and if I say one wrong thing, people will judge me and think I'm a bad person. My heart and desire is for people to be more aware of this. I, for one, want to be myself and be accepted as I am. This gets difficult...on both sides. We are to be like Christ and act like Christ. The problem: we are human. If we didn't have this issue, Jesus wouldn't have had to die on the cross to cover our "human-ness". (or sins)
Whew! So what do we do with all of this? I pray that people would stop "acting" for other people, but strive to do the right thing because God is watching them and sees their actions...and their heart. On the flip side. I pray that people would stop judging others for their sins. We all have sin in our lives. “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. Matt. 7:1-5
I pray that all who live for Jesus can be encouragement to each other, love each other, and be light and salt to those that do not have that relationship with Jesus, so that they too will want to know Jesus.

For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10: 10 and 13 NLT
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13: 34 and 35

Teenagers and Legalism

I'm going to start this one off by saying, if you are easily offended...stop right now and don't read any more. To the rest of you, I will probably step on some toes and I'm sorry in advance.

We just spent a week at StudentLife Camp in Durango with some AMAZING teenagers! We took 16 teenagers and there were 4 of us adults all mingled with over 700 teenagers and adults. As I sat and just took all of it in, I was humbled and amazed at how God uses teenagers! For those of you that think teenagers are rude, horrible creatures, shame on you! You don't have to necessarily like them, but God tells us to love them. Matt. 22:39 (and many other places in His Word) They are God's creation and YOU were once a teenager. They are in their prime learning/growing time and it is the responsibility of the adults in their lives to be examples of how to live a Christian life. Unfortunately, a lot of adults think teenagers are no good, and they blame them for every bad thing that happens. As a youth leader, this really frustrates me. For example, I have heard several comments in our own church lobby about the teenagers using the sanctuary for youth group and that they spill drinks all the time. I have been helping with the YG for over 3 years now, and I have seen very few spills. AND, when it does happen, I see about 4 teenagers come to the rescue to help the one who does spill clean it up. On the FLIP (this was the theme of the camp) side, I have sat through bible studies in the sanctuary where women spill their coffee. I have seen other women tell that person their coffee just spilled and then just sit there and wait for that person to clean up their own coffee. When that person cleans it up, they just get a few paper towels and step on it and hope that's fine. (I know, because I have witnessed or been on both sides of the this...both spilling my coffee and being the one to tell the other they spilled).

I sat and watched the worship of these teenagers and lead a group of them during bible study time. All I have to say is...WOW! These teenagers are on fire for God! Yes, there are some that mess around and really aren't interested, but isn't that the case for some adults in church? These kids are the next generation of pastors, missionaries, youth pastors, leaders, etc. and I'm excited and proud of that fact! So next time you see a teenager walking around your church (even if it's a boy with long hair or his pants sit a little low on the hips, or a girl wearing jeans instead of a dress or has a piercing in a place that you think is wrong) please don't judge them, you don't see their hearts! God is their ONLY judge and He sees the amazing things they are doing to further His kingdom and He doesn't care what they are wearing or how they look! Jesus was not worried about what the Samaritan girl at the well looked like. John 4

That leads me to the second thing that I really took away from camp. One word, LEGALISM. This is where I may step on someone's toes. Don't get me wrong, I understand that God gives us each our own convictions, but please don't judge others if they aren't convicted in the same way. Our speaker this week was Ergun Caner. This is a man who does a church service for the "least of these". The "freaks" is what he calls them. The ones with tattoos, long hair, holes in their jeans, piercings, etc. If you've been to the mall or the county fair, you know the ones. These people need saved and loved too! They are all God's creation.

HOLY: Ergun explained this: A Christian should define holy as being more like Christ.

Legalists define this as wanting someone to be more like them. This really hit me! This is one of my biggest turn offs about Christian adults. Wear a dress to church, don't throw balls in the sanctuary, you are a sinner if you have a tattoo, you must kneel to pray, etc. I could go on and on, but you get the point. And maybe you've been convicted by one of these things. PLEASE, please, please, don't judge others if they aren't. Guess what, I wear jeans to church, I've thrown balls in the sanctuary, I have two tattoos and want another one, and I pray wherever I feel like talking to God...whether it's standing at the sink washing dishes, lying in bed before I nod off to sleep, or sitting in my car driving somewhere. (and I didn't close my eyes while driving either!)

I know that our youth pastor and probably every youth leader out there, gets criticism for how he/they do things. I can only speak for our Youth Pastor, he loves these kids and would do anything for them. He takes time out of his personal life to show them God's love. He takes them to camp and gets buckets of water poured on him, gets little sleep, and puts up with loud music and loud kids the whole week and still loves them and would do it all over in a heart beat...and does do it again and again! I'm not saying he's perfect, he may slip and say something he maybe shouldn't have, or run a yellow light while on one of those many road trips he takes with the youth, etc. But none of us are perfect. The kids see that he is real, and he slips up in life, just like they do/will. THANK YOU, Jesus, for shedding your blood to forgive us of our imperfections and sins!!!

So please, next time you see a youth pastor, thank him/her for his/her dedication and commitment to teach and love on those teenagers who will be our next pastors, leaders, missionaries, etc. Also, take a minute to thank the teenagers for what they do. You may not see what they are doing behind the scenes, but they are there. Setting up the chairs that you sit on during Sunday morning church, picking up trash at the skate park and sharing the gospel with the skaters, putting out the tables that you sit at during church potlucks, their committment to God and eachother as they "give up" their Wednesday nights to be at church to learn and grow in God, and being the encouragement and light in my life! I just want to say, that I love and respect every one in our youth group; our youth pastor, the teenagers, and the adult leaders! You are all amazing, wonderful people....God's chosen people! THANK YOU to all of you!