Guilty, as charged

 

I like things that make me think….

Recently on Facebook, I received and posted two posts (you may visit on Facebook) about:  1. (A Video) A homeless man walks into a church and what he did next shocked everybody. 2.  The 2nd one by David Hayward, titled: Why I Would Not Attend Pastor Jeremiah Steepek’s Church.  I posted the first one before reading the second. And before reading that there probably is not a Pastor Jeremiah Steepek.

When I posted the Video, I felt that It gave us a good lesson from Jesus, teachings about how to treat the hungry, naked and homeless and how we often don’t do what we should be doing ……When I read the second article, it made me feel guilty…

Thus todays blog today: 

 

I like stuff that makes me think ….. I mean really think…

I like people that make me think.  There are a lot of people, on Face book, friends, family, people I have known.  Some I keep there, I really don’t agree with.  Some who really make me angry….. I have hit the un friend button several times, only to go friend them again. 

Why? You ask. 

Well the truth is they are friends and I need their perspective.  Also, I don’t find Jesus throwing people away.   So, I hang on to them…… and try to love them……for me hanging on, is a basic of who we need to be, as Christians.  Hanging on, despite of, for me, is living “God’s Grace.”

Hard thing at times.  But that is not what I want to write about this morning.

I liked both the video and also the blog from David Hayward.  

I wanted to talk about guilt.  It’s a funny thing…. After Reading what brother Hayward wrote, I felt guilty. 

I had posted something that made others feel guilty…. The truth is I have preached guilt driven sermons for years….

Wow, how can this be?

 Yep I have done it …….and maybe I should not have…. There may have been a better way…As I think about it, I probably have lived and done a lot of things, wrong and poorly…. I have used a line that went something like this…… “Well you pray about it, and see what God tells you to do.” That line got a lot of people to do what I wanted……My Friend and Brother, David Bethel, had a response.  “Pastor, I went home and asked God, and He said I didn’t have to.”   I didn’t have much of a response….. I do know I prayed a lot, before asking David to do anything again.

Guilt is not a good thing…  So I write this blog today for a number of reasons.

1. So I can say to many, “I’m Sorry”, I probably did harm, by making you feel guilty….. especially if you were not.  I don’t know what lays in your heart, or life.  I have not walked in your shoes…
    
2. But wait….  I don’t feel guilty if you were and are guilty……We need to feel guilty,  when we are wrong….. Guilt can change us. It can drive us to repentance.  Especially if we Love God and seek to serve Him. 
3. Why did Jesus tell the story of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46)
   Well probably, it was not to make people feel guilty, as much as it was to say, Christians do and will do these things. They will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison.
    
   Now that is a scary thought, isn’t it?”   It should help shape our daily attitudes and actions……
   The truth is we are all guilty….We might ask, .How can any one be saved? 
    Grasp this….. God knows that we are guilty.
   Could it be, that is why He provided and provides a Savior? 
    
   That knowledge should change our path, our heart, and how we respond….
   When we ask God to come live inside us He comes and changes us.  Time to listen more to our wee small voice, could be God speaking……. If you hear him…. Listen please.