From My Heart
This will probably be a bit long of a post but I hope you indulge me and bear with me :)
This has been on my heart the past week and I have prayed about how to best word it so as not to offend people and not come off as judgemental, legalistic or any other words that so often are attached to a Christian who is wanting to stand up for her convictions. May I say, these are my convictions and you may not share in them and that is not my business, but I do feel a responsibility to speak from my heart the things the Lord puts there.
Being an American living overseas for the last 5-1/2 years has been quite a challenge. It's challenging to live in another culture where a different language is spoken, you eat different foods, you can't just call a friend and chit chat or go to Starbucks (there aren't any) and grab the latest latte. It's easy to find yourself isolated and even sad because you miss your family and friends and can't always talk about things with the people here as you can with your friends at home. I was thrilled when I found digital scrapping on the internet and even more excited when I saw that there were so many Christian women who hang out on these sites. I felt like I had a little connection with people in America. I am not able to support the designers in the community as much as I would like, but I do what I can. I don't post a lot or as much as I would like to but that is because I have to choose my words wisely. But, I still feel like a voice even if it is a small one :) (don't ask my husband if I have a small voice LOL)
Over the past few months, I have become so grieved in my heart at the things I read from Christians on different sites. This past week really put the brakes on for me. Christians who openly say they are Christians and yet out of their mouths come offensive speech. Yes, we as Christians have liberty, but we are not to use that liberty to cause others to stumble. We have a responsibility to live above reproach. If we are going to confess Christ, then we need to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no room for the flesh. We shouldn't be using words and phrases that compromise the Lord. Joking and jesting are fun but they can be taken too far. Talking about God one minute and the next warming ourselves by the fire with the world is not how we should be behaving.
You can't imagine how many times I want to chime in with my opinion about something I think is unfair or some thread that might be amusing but I don't want to misrepresent my Lord. I have a responsibility as a professing Christian and it needs to be taken seriously. Does my opinion count? You know what....not always. How many times do we find ourselves tangled in worldly conversations because of our pride-wanting to get our opinion across and try to persuade others to take on our point of view. Unfortunately, in doing so we stoop to the level we ought not go. We let our guard down and find ourselves in places we don't belong.
There are so many ways that God wants to use His children. So many ways that we can be encouraging, uplifting and helpful to others. He has given people talents, scrapbooking included and brings people in our lives that we can have an effect on and be an example to. Should we not take this seriously? We don't need to participate in conversations that aren't edifying and only add more fuel to the fire.
I find myself so easily drawn to drama and things of the sort and want so badly to put in my 2 cents (funny I can't find the cent symbol lol ) and I really do have to pray for self control not to engage myself in these conversations because I will be ugly in my responses. Believe me friends, I know that there are non Christians who read the things we write and scratch their heads and think "Hmm, they are a Christian?" Is it unfair to be judged like that? Maybe, but that's the way things are. Our attitudes, our behavior, our lifestyles do have an effect on others whether we like it or not. Why not use the influences, the resourses, the talents that we have to influence others for Christ. Sure, we may get laughs and pats on the shoulders from others when we joke and say things in a worldly sense, but is that what we really want? Is that what Christ wants? We are to be a light to the world, shining brightly for Jesus. We are told to let our lights shine that others may see and glorify God. Is God glorified in the things we say?
In Ephesians 4:29 Paul writes: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. " It's not always just what we say that can be a good example, but what we don't say. The bible says we will give an account for every idle word we speak-that keeps me on my toes!! The Lord wants so much to work these things out in our lives. He wants so much to use us in the places we are to bear fruit, to be a witness to Him, to stand for righteousness. Notice I don't say self-righteousness. I also don't say that we have to bombard the message boards with biblical messages and put people down, condemn them, point out their sins, absolutely NOT! But, there are plenty of times I see people asking for prayer, needing a helping hand...guess what-we are privlegded to pray for them! I know that many of you already do that and it's awesome, so let's try to keep it to those things and avoid the others. There are Galleries with layouts that have little or no comments. Use your time to praise if you can. Please don't look at what I am writing as a big "Oh another holier than thou Christian(believe me, I am far from that ) telling us what we can or can't do" rather "how can I best utilize the gifts God has given me-the gift of helps, the gift of encouragement, etc. Christians can be a lot of fun and bring excitement to places they hang out. What I do challenge we Christians to is to take a look at how we represent our Lord. Really go before the Lord and ask Him to use us for His glory. Ask Him to help us in areas we are weak in-our pride, self-control, whatever it may be. He doesn't want us to compromise and He will help us in these things. He calls us to be separate-to be consecrated to Him alone.
I will leave you with this and pray that you will be encouraged in the things of the Lord!
Thanks for listening :)
(I used Janel K's paper and milk and cereal font)
This has been on my heart the past week and I have prayed about how to best word it so as not to offend people and not come off as judgemental, legalistic or any other words that so often are attached to a Christian who is wanting to stand up for her convictions. May I say, these are my convictions and you may not share in them and that is not my business, but I do feel a responsibility to speak from my heart the things the Lord puts there.
Being an American living overseas for the last 5-1/2 years has been quite a challenge. It's challenging to live in another culture where a different language is spoken, you eat different foods, you can't just call a friend and chit chat or go to Starbucks (there aren't any) and grab the latest latte. It's easy to find yourself isolated and even sad because you miss your family and friends and can't always talk about things with the people here as you can with your friends at home. I was thrilled when I found digital scrapping on the internet and even more excited when I saw that there were so many Christian women who hang out on these sites. I felt like I had a little connection with people in America. I am not able to support the designers in the community as much as I would like, but I do what I can. I don't post a lot or as much as I would like to but that is because I have to choose my words wisely. But, I still feel like a voice even if it is a small one :) (don't ask my husband if I have a small voice LOL)
Over the past few months, I have become so grieved in my heart at the things I read from Christians on different sites. This past week really put the brakes on for me. Christians who openly say they are Christians and yet out of their mouths come offensive speech. Yes, we as Christians have liberty, but we are not to use that liberty to cause others to stumble. We have a responsibility to live above reproach. If we are going to confess Christ, then we need to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no room for the flesh. We shouldn't be using words and phrases that compromise the Lord. Joking and jesting are fun but they can be taken too far. Talking about God one minute and the next warming ourselves by the fire with the world is not how we should be behaving.
You can't imagine how many times I want to chime in with my opinion about something I think is unfair or some thread that might be amusing but I don't want to misrepresent my Lord. I have a responsibility as a professing Christian and it needs to be taken seriously. Does my opinion count? You know what....not always. How many times do we find ourselves tangled in worldly conversations because of our pride-wanting to get our opinion across and try to persuade others to take on our point of view. Unfortunately, in doing so we stoop to the level we ought not go. We let our guard down and find ourselves in places we don't belong.
There are so many ways that God wants to use His children. So many ways that we can be encouraging, uplifting and helpful to others. He has given people talents, scrapbooking included and brings people in our lives that we can have an effect on and be an example to. Should we not take this seriously? We don't need to participate in conversations that aren't edifying and only add more fuel to the fire.
I find myself so easily drawn to drama and things of the sort and want so badly to put in my 2 cents (funny I can't find the cent symbol lol ) and I really do have to pray for self control not to engage myself in these conversations because I will be ugly in my responses. Believe me friends, I know that there are non Christians who read the things we write and scratch their heads and think "Hmm, they are a Christian?" Is it unfair to be judged like that? Maybe, but that's the way things are. Our attitudes, our behavior, our lifestyles do have an effect on others whether we like it or not. Why not use the influences, the resourses, the talents that we have to influence others for Christ. Sure, we may get laughs and pats on the shoulders from others when we joke and say things in a worldly sense, but is that what we really want? Is that what Christ wants? We are to be a light to the world, shining brightly for Jesus. We are told to let our lights shine that others may see and glorify God. Is God glorified in the things we say?
In Ephesians 4:29 Paul writes: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. " It's not always just what we say that can be a good example, but what we don't say. The bible says we will give an account for every idle word we speak-that keeps me on my toes!! The Lord wants so much to work these things out in our lives. He wants so much to use us in the places we are to bear fruit, to be a witness to Him, to stand for righteousness. Notice I don't say self-righteousness. I also don't say that we have to bombard the message boards with biblical messages and put people down, condemn them, point out their sins, absolutely NOT! But, there are plenty of times I see people asking for prayer, needing a helping hand...guess what-we are privlegded to pray for them! I know that many of you already do that and it's awesome, so let's try to keep it to those things and avoid the others. There are Galleries with layouts that have little or no comments. Use your time to praise if you can. Please don't look at what I am writing as a big "Oh another holier than thou Christian(believe me, I am far from that ) telling us what we can or can't do" rather "how can I best utilize the gifts God has given me-the gift of helps, the gift of encouragement, etc. Christians can be a lot of fun and bring excitement to places they hang out. What I do challenge we Christians to is to take a look at how we represent our Lord. Really go before the Lord and ask Him to use us for His glory. Ask Him to help us in areas we are weak in-our pride, self-control, whatever it may be. He doesn't want us to compromise and He will help us in these things. He calls us to be separate-to be consecrated to Him alone.
I will leave you with this and pray that you will be encouraged in the things of the Lord!
Thanks for listening :)
(I used Janel K's paper and milk and cereal font)
posted by Margie at
9:16 AM
1 Comments:
Amen Sistah! I have had so many of the same thoughts so frequently. I simply lurk at digi shop talk for the most part, because of these sad truths. Love your blog! Have a wonderful, awesome trip!
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