My biggest example is Joel Osteen. And, look, I don't know the man personally. He is a likable enough personality on TV, kind of used-car salesmanly to me, but likable enough. He preaches a doctrine that I think is borderline heresy. I find much wrong with his lessons theologically. However, he is no more or less flawed and sinful than I am. He may be legitimately relaying messages from God to people that God needs to reach. And Brother Osteen may be the vehicle.
So, while I will not ever come to accept the preaching, I have to be careful not to miss the message. I cringe when I hear people say "God told me." I was raised Catholic, and that means miracles are serious business that involve the Pope sending the Men In Black to investigate and memory wipe if necessary. And, it was a miracle for someone to receive a visitation or message directly from the Lord.
This post is not about all the ways I have found disagreement with Catholic doctrine. Again, I have to be careful not to miss the message. Doctrine is one of the filters that gets in the way of us hearing God. Dogma and doctrine were non-existent with Christ. He said simple things that are profoundly powerful, and require no administration or interpretation.
Love others as you would be loved.
Go! Make disciples. Baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Faith, no matter how small, is infinitely powerful.
God loves us, as we are, because we are His.
The devil is real, and brilliant. Be wary.
These things are not complex. No system of parsing and interpreting is required to express them consistently. We have created worlds of pain and suffering over ridiculousness, like whether it counts if you are sprinkled or immersed for baptism, or adult or infant.
What Christ said was Go! That was first, because it was the priority, to go get in people's lives. Then he said make disciples. Share the Gospel, catch them on fire with the Holy Spirit and don't be a fire extinguisher. Then he said baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
No mention of water was made, other than the accepted usage of the term baptize meaning to wash. I am positive in my heart of hearts that Jesus was absolutely most concerned with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit piece, not some nonsense about water.
All that being said, I think that Christ spoke simply about commandments, because it was very simple in premise. Love, and focus on the Lord at the center of your being. Don't worry about the rest, these things belong to God, not us.
Christ was capable of complexity and deep introspection and analogy. His parables are beautiful in craft and symbolism. They are also enough to trip up folks like me, if we dig too deeply around in them. I don't think that was Christ's intention. I think they are beautiful in craft and symbolism to intrigue us, to make us desire to study and understand. But, there is no place in the Bible, in my reading, where Christ was ever wishy washy about what we should do, or what He desired.
So, it is my pitfall, my personal trap, to discount others in the profession of their faith. How on earth do I have the ability to tell who God has and has not spoken to? I don't and I should assume that my judgement is fallible, which is why vengeance is left to the Lord. I struggle with that one, because vengeance is kind of one of my wheelhouse attributes. I can visit a reckoning on you in a skinny minute.
Usually, when I do, I am wrong, or at least partially wrong. Usually, when I do, I regret it almost immediately. Usually, when I do, I create an issue for someone else in their faith journey. Always, when I do, I fail Christ's first command. It is so simple, yet so hard to keep faithfully.
God does speak to everyone. With me, there is no burning bush, or visitation of Gabriel. There is no illuminating light that shines forth. There is only this rock solid certainty in my heart that what I just received came directly from the Lord. In my almost 49 years of life, that message has never included any instruction for someone else. It has always been about doing something within me, that was a real action.
Forgive them. Love them. Comfort them. Call them. Tell them. Hug them. Be with them. Pray for them. Pray with them. LISTEN to them. Acknowledge them. Grow for them.
God does not tell me to do stuff to me. God tells me to do things to others that are within me to do. God does the stuff to me. That is already happening. And, this whole Christian thing only works properly if we accept that God talks to us, and the God's commands are to do with others.
If we do unto others, at the will of God, the circle is completed. Because God has commanded others to do unto you. Even when it feels like you do all the doing, and the ones God commanded to do unto you either refused, or misheard Him completely, He has us in hand. There is no quid pro quo. When we need it, God has others there for us. When others need it, God sends us there for them.
God does speak to everyone. I suppose that Moses needed to see a bush burn that was not consumed, to understand where the message was coming from. I suppose that as a whole, the Israelites needed to see pillars of cloud and fire to understand where the direction was coming from. I suppose that Jacob had to wrestle physically with something, to understand God's real presence with him. I suppose Paul had to be blinded, to see.
It will be an imperfect process, but I will do all that I can to accept plainly what others tell me God has revealed to them. My experience, my study of the Word, my heart and God's indwelling will be more than enough to sift the message for truth and for content. If we spent less time trying to figure out why God does not interact with the world in the way He does, and more time obeying God, this would be a better life.
If you want to be rich, you have the wrong focus. If you want to be famous, you have the wrong focus. If you want to be important, you have the wrong focus. If you want to be a true representation of Christ, you have the correct focus. In that pursuit, you are rich in the way that enriches, you are famous to those you need to impact, and you are ultimately important, redeemed and accepted by the Creator of the Universe.
God gave me a message to share this morning, and before I put it out on my pitifully small circle of social media influence, I worried about starting it with those words. People might think I am crazy. People might ignore me, or not interact with me because of my faith. I would be different than most people, and that is scary.
I did it anyway, because I could only be true to myself. What message did God give you today? It does not need to be made public, it does not need to be internationally profound. But, it does need to be shared, acted on. Step out in faith, trust in your Lord, listen to the Holy Spirit. It brings peace to your heart.
And, thank God when others bless you. They are gifts from God, that He sent expressly for that reason, even if they have no idea He did so. Thanking them sincerely also feels really good, and goes a long way to encouraging them, letting them see the message God gave them.
The message I got today was that this was a hard world full of cruelty. We have family, friends, a Savior that love us. Focus on the love.
That is what God laid on me so powerfully that I could not get peace in my mind or heart, without sharing it. I have that knowledge already, so it was for someone. Whoever that is, however they get it, I hope that it fulfills the Lord's desire. I have a lot going on in my life, it is easy to get absorbed.
I think God wanted me to remember that the most lasting things I will ever be part of, all involve giving. We get really focused on getting, for legitimate reasons, rent, food, utilities. But, there is a powerful lesson in Jesus' teaching about not worrying about tomorrow, and being focused on what we should do today.
I had a message from God. I will have more. I hope you are hearing His message to you. I pray we all follow them.
GLYASDI
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