Sorry for the delay between posts, but I've been wrestling with something: How do you determine when something is worth fighting for? Not just disagreeing over, but actually taking a stand and saying in essence, "Here I stand and I will not be moved!" Obviously, you've got to be careful about what you're willing to "die" for and as any parent of a teenager can tell you, if you take this position too frequently, you can end up with losses you hadn't envisioned and were not prepared to suffer.
Emotion is important in this realm, because if you aren't passionate about a certain issue, you will quickly fold when the fire gets hot. But emotion can't be the only defining characteristic. I mean, if passion about an issue was the sole measure of it's merit and/or value, we'd find ourselves looking up to people like Hitler, David Koresh and the like, for they were definitely passionate, but passionately wrong.
So there's got to be more to it than this, and as I prepare for this weekend, I understand that it has to be about more than this. You see, I'm heading into a meeting Sunday afternoon where there will be plenty of passionate people...almost totally at odds with one another. So how do we draw the lines?
I know I may sound "old-fashioned" and "dated" in my thinking, but I still believe that God's Word has to have the final say. We dare not go about making up the rules as we go, following our "gut" or "intuition" or current trend/philosophy. We need to be crystal clear where it is crystal clear, gracious where it is not, and filled with wisdom from on high about where the line is between the two.
Thus, I find myself asking a serious favor from a relatively limited audience (unless there are thousands of you out there I'm totally unaware of who are afraid to make yourself known to me as "Followers" - which I suppose is possible). The favor? To pray with me for clarity, grace and wisdom as my church and I both enter a pivotal moment in our spiritual journey - privately and corporately.
I know that the last thing Jesus wants is a fight, but I also know that when His Word and His Way are being assaulted, there may indeed be a time to fight. May His Name be lifted up, any enemy humbled and the Body of Christ united as we follow Him!
