The Bible....i believe it.... in there
it says there are no tears in heaven.....i believe this too....at least
for the saints that pass on and receive their eternal
reward....however, I do wonder many times if God has a private
sanctuary no one, not even saint John, or King David, knows about! A
place where God himself goes alone and curls up and weeps and stores
His own bottles of tears....... cause I think if I were God and my
children acted so often like His does I would wear out the hinges of
that secret door and I'd be buying myself a bottling company!!!!!
why?? why?? do we who are His, called by Him, the Author of
unconditional love, the Master of all things Grace and Peace and
Mercy, find it so incredibly difficult to LOVE ONE ANOTHER??
Especially when He loves each of us, that are messed up, floundering
and extremely imperfect, so unconditionally without question!! it's a
Bible command, repeated over many times!! Love one another!! another
verse says, Do good unto ALL men, ESPECIALLY those of the house hold
of faith!! and here is where I think God must run to His hiding place
and overflow jar after jar after jar, as time after time, He witnesses
those who claim Him, tear each other to pieces! We all are on a
journey, no two are the same, some have been through serious bogs and
floods and some have been through battle after battle while others
struggle to overcome wave after wave of whatever each is called to
travel. It could be death, abuse, broken homes, rejection, fear, it
could be the fight against feeling loved, wanted, needed, or the
fight against, low self esteem, unworthiness or anxiety, depression,
the list could go on for pages and pages. And yet, we time and time again continue
to overlook the importance of investing in people and creating a
relationship with them and lifting them in prayer, to instead, tear
them to shreds, push them away, and turn your back because well, I don't
think they look like I do, or maybe,, they do things different than me,
or, I think I heard they said something about me that I don't think I
like, or, have a differing opinion of something that's important to me, or,
just because you really just think you don't like them just because
you don't think you will and not even reach out and try!! in the
meantime, we also forget that for some reason we may never know here
and now, God put us in each others path for a reason, maybe it's for our growth and good, maybe it's to help them trust again, or, believe in people, or, to grow in their own way, so don't we owe
it to ourselves, and them, and especially to God who gives us every perfect gift, to come alongside each
other and be what we can to one another along this journey!!?? God
knows this life is trying and shaky enough without rejecting the
fellow saints He gifts us along the way!! the Bible does tell His
people that yes, there will be hard times, for some even persecution
and trials, but we never expect to face that among other saints and I
think God weeps even harder cause He hasn't planned that either!! we
say we believe the Bible, and yet, another thing He repeats in there
over and over is the thought of being set apart from the world, and
yes, most often that's brought out in teachings referring to the way
we clothe ourselves, or, our activities, or posessions, but what about
our church relationships, and church family actions?? I wonder
sometimes if His tears would be from looking at what is claimed to
being His church and seeing dealings and actions that look like a
mirror of the workings of the government!! We gasp at the thought of
that and are rightly appalled and yet when we see how we let petty
differences and irritations fester and become mountains to the point
where we claim we no longer can work with other believers and we go
about making life hard for them by constantly having an issue with
them, by talking them down, and turning others against them, trying to bring ourselves up in others eyes as the holy, spiritually attained, all almost perfect, got it all together, can do virtually no wrong, and in
doing that we make it easy for them to walk away, we place defeat and anxiety they were never meant to carry on their shoulders, we make it easy for
them to question true christianity, we make it easy for them to fall
into depression and despair, we make it easy for them to say this
place is not for me, they say this is not at all what I envisioned from God's word what Christ likeness was to be, and we set back with a sigh as another thorn is
removed and outta our way, no we don't literally have them done away
with or cause them silently disappear from this world forever, but we batter them, we kill their spirit,
we belittle and make them to be wounded weary and battle worn
.......i wonder if God sees politics in that, instead of being men
and woman of prayer and long suffering with each other we find it
easy to remove “the problem” and go on with our own
agenda......we complain this world needs more men, true stand up and
be men, men, and yet when they try we criticize and beat down and
condemn the good they try to implant where they have opportunity and
men that God calls to do His work walk away defeated, deflated and as
unconfidant as small boys.....i wonder how wonderfully our churches
would grow and bloom and shine Christ light, how small areas of our
world around us would be healed and God's kingdom be more beautifully
built if we would put to practice another Bible command and get our
eyes off ourselves and our own selfish agendas and personal vendettas
and get our focus firmly fixed on the cross and the light and love
shining from those three blood stained nails!! I wonder how many
priceless relationships we lose by listening to the trash talk about
others and instead of investing and building we run and demolish, I
wonder how many saints journeys are rougher than God ever intended
because we let ourselves and our own personal irritantes of others
and quirks get in between us and our cross focus, I wonder if we kill
personalities and life because we say we are more and hold ourselves
higher as we squash down and snuff out......i wonder if God sees a
twisted self centered government like persona over shadowing what we
claim is His church........i wonder if He sees His church being
selfishly thrown together and underhandedly manned if He sees bricks
being tossed aside instead of cemented firmly in place with love,
grace, forgiveness, faith, hope ....... I wonder if today I made my
Saviour run to His sanctuary and weep............God forgive us, let
us keep your cross front and center and self buried!! God help us
love and lift up, to hold the hands that hang down, and not crush and
toss aside, help us overlook the differences and encourage to shine
you and put aside our own agenda and live yours!! give us true
reconciliation and Grace......always grace!!
