Ridiculous day at church!!

A few years ago while waiting for the church service to begin, I was having a conversation with my husband.  I wasn’t able to hear a certain announcement and asked him if he heard it.  He said that he couldn’t hear it and that usually folks quiet down when the announcements come on.  All of the sudden the woman in the row in front of us, who apparently was eavesdropping, began speaking belligerently to my husband.  She accused him of being “one of those Christians that give Christians a bad reputation,” and so on and so forth.  My husband and I were speechless.  First of all we weren’t putting anyone down.  We simply didn’t hear what the announcement was.  This woman continued on until she had most everyone’s attention in the area…and they were all staring at us.  Finally she stopped.  I won’t share everything with you that she said…no need.

I was stunned.  My husband got up and left.  Immediately, I began to pray for both my husband and the woman in front of me.  After a few minutes, I found myself tapping on this woman’s shoulder to get her attention.  These words came from my mouth.  I said, “Ma’am, my husband and I were having a conversation between the two of us.  Nothing that my husband said had anything to do with you.”  I said, “My husband is a young Christian and I’ve been waiting for him to attend church with me for nearly 20 years.  Do you know why he wouldn’t attend with me for such a long time?”  She shook her head.  I kindly said, “Because of people like you.”  I sat back in my chair and waited for the service to begin…and for my husband to return and continued to pray for both of them.

Finally he returned and the worship service had begun.  I said, “Holy Spirit, do your work.”  Well, 2 songs or so into the service the lady began to cry.  Then she turned around and just as profusely as she had verbally slapped him only moments ago, she apologized to my husband…again causing a ruckus.

We left that day totally stunned.  But this I know… my husband didn’t deserve what he got from that lady.  But, I prayed for both of them…hoping that she was only having a bad day and hoping that my husband would continue going to church with me.  I put the situation in God’s hands and watched him work this out to peace in front of my eyes.

Just keep in mind that you never know what someone may be going through and harsh words are not the answer.  A soft word turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1  Even if you’re the one on the receiving end of someone else’s bad day.  Pray for them…it will do more good than a harsh word ever will.             

Do As I Say and Not As I Do?

So…I’m definitely not a fan of the “Do as I say and not as I do doctrine.” If someone in authority asks me to do something, I will do it as long as it doesn’t cause me to sin or compromise my integrity.  I don’t find it necessary to be rebellious simply because someone is asking me to do something, there’s no reason for that.  I do, however, have a problem with folks who like to make their own rules, but then don’t find it necessary to follow the rules that they’ve made.  I actually find that maddening!  I will do what they say, but it actually makes it very difficult for me to have respect for the person(s) who are making these rules and take this form of leadership on a regular basis…and I do mean on a regular basis or a lifestyle of this type of leadership.  I’m not speaking of the occasional random mistakes that we all make! 

This behavior reminds me of the Pharisees in the Bible.  They were constantly trying to catch or even trap Jesus in “wrong doing” according to their rules.  But, what I love about Jesus is that He was always honest and onto their trickery.  Even with the rules that they made, Jesus would serve people by helping or healing them and not in rebellion…He did it with great poise and self control.  Jesus never had an attitude about what He was doing.  He was confident in who He was...the Son of God, the Son of Man…the Savior of the World.

What a great example Jesus is for us.  He is the ultimate example for us.  I don’t want to be someone who makes rules and then doesn’t follow them.  Whenever I experience something like this in my life, I like to take what I see in others that bothers me and examine myself to see if I’m acting in the same manner anywhere in my life.  And, it could be anything that I see, not just this subject in particular.  When…not if…I do see things that need to be corrected, I take it to God and repent.  I ask Him to take whatever it is out of me and ask Him to fill me with more of His Spirit…essentially, more of Him and less of me.

Oh how wonderful it is that we have a loving God that will help us to see our flaws, correct us, heal us and restore us…and all we need to do is ask!  Even when we see these things in ourselves that we don’t like, it doesn’t change His love for us.  He loves us the same yesterday, today and forever because He is love.