Wonderful Christian sentiment
Below is well stated plan for all Christians to follow if we are to be the light of the world!!
Below is well stated plan for all Christians to follow if we are to be the light of the world!!
Catch of the Day
Help we all could use
by John Fischer
Yesterday's Catch about how depression, despair and struggles with sin are just as likely to happen after we become Christians as before struck a nerve. One reader mentioned how a minister suggested that her mother was dying because she didn't have enough faith to defeat the power of Satan. Another was told their son was born mentally challenged due to their sin. A number mentioned condemnation they had received from other Christians over struggles with depression. A single mom was being so hard on herself because her life wasn't measuring up to the standard of the Christians around her that she was considering taking her life when she read yesterday's Catch and it brought her hope. Over and over again, the issue of guilt came up. It's enough to make you cry.
Life is hard enough as it is, to not add the pressure of being good Christians to the burdens on so many backs. And what makes this even more tragic is that the added pressure is coming from the only true source of hope anyone has -- those who are ambassadors of the grace of God. When those who represent the unconditional love of God start laying down conditions for acceptance, love and understanding, where are the rest of us going to go? We need to come alongside each other and help -- no questions asked -- not run our spiritual Geiger counters up and down everybody's faith.
Imagine you are a single mom with three kids to drop off at school before going to your first day at a new job. On a slippery, rain-soaked street, you go into a slide and skid into an accident that all but totals your car. Compounding the problem is the fact that it isn't your car -- you borrowed it from a friend because yours needed to be fixed and you didn't have the money yet to fix it. So in fear and trembling you call the owner of the car to let him know what happened, and all he wants to know are the answers to three questions: 1) Are you okay? 2) Are the kids okay? 3) Do you have enough money for a cab? Yes, yes, and yes, you say. Good, he says, then get on your way, lady. You have an important day ahead of you and you can't let this stop you. Leave the car, I'll send for a tow truck. Now be off, and God be with you.
What happened there? 1) No judgment. 2) Help. A lessening of the load, not another burden. 3) Encouragement with dignity. Now that's the kind of help we could all use!
And Karen offers this final word: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior." Habakkuk 3:17-18
by John Fischer
Yesterday's Catch about how depression, despair and struggles with sin are just as likely to happen after we become Christians as before struck a nerve. One reader mentioned how a minister suggested that her mother was dying because she didn't have enough faith to defeat the power of Satan. Another was told their son was born mentally challenged due to their sin. A number mentioned condemnation they had received from other Christians over struggles with depression. A single mom was being so hard on herself because her life wasn't measuring up to the standard of the Christians around her that she was considering taking her life when she read yesterday's Catch and it brought her hope. Over and over again, the issue of guilt came up. It's enough to make you cry. Life is hard enough as it is, to not add the pressure of being good Christians to the burdens on so many backs. And what makes this even more tragic is that the added pressure is coming from the only true source of hope anyone has -- those who are ambassadors of the grace of God. When those who represent the unconditional love of God start laying down conditions for acceptance, love and understanding, where are the rest of us going to go? We need to come alongside each other and help -- no questions asked -- not run our spiritual Geiger counters up and down everybody's faith.
Imagine you are a single mom with three kids to drop off at school before going to your first day at a new job. On a slippery, rain-soaked street, you go into a slide and skid into an accident that all but totals your car. Compounding the problem is the fact that it isn't your car -- you borrowed it from a friend because yours needed to be fixed and you didn't have the money yet to fix it. So in fear and trembling you call the owner of the car to let him know what happened, and all he wants to know are the answers to three questions: 1) Are you okay? 2) Are the kids okay? 3) Do you have enough money for a cab? Yes, yes, and yes, you say. Good, he says, then get on your way, lady. You have an important day ahead of you and you can't let this stop you. Leave the car, I'll send for a tow truck. Now be off, and God be with you.
What happened there? 1) No judgment. 2) Help. A lessening of the load, not another burden. 3) Encouragement with dignity. Now that's the kind of help we could all use!
And Karen offers this final word: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior." Habakkuk 3:17-18
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Copyright © 2007 by John Fischer
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