Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
Just ask James Barber's sons how that worked out. Or, as Dr. Phill would say, "how's that workin' for ya?"
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Ouch. That's one of the things I grapple with - that with "good intentions" and even according to my conscience, many times I believed I was putting the Lord first by putting service first - before my family, before my health, before everything. Was I? It's one of those things where I feel the most peace by telling the Lord like Peter when asked the third time - Lord you know all things, you know that I love you.
I can also say that many, many times I was on the receiving end, there were numerous instances of others caring for my children because of my particular circumstantial need at that time. It wasn't just me serving others, others also served me and cared for my children too (I was a single mom)
One of the things I remember that shaped me was the sense that what I did mattered - that I was a member of the body and I could either add something to it (build with gold, etc) or take away from it (wood, hay, stubble) by how I lived privately, and how I "functioned" in the meeting, how I served. My individual experience of Christ made a difference. It made a difference whether I spent time in the Word, it made a difference whether I obeyed, it made a difference what I looked at, etc. I think I still believe that but I don't hear that kind of message so much.
In the place where I now fellowship, there isn't the same kind of emphasis on serving one another nor the importance of your own individual "contribution." There
is an emphasis on reaching out to the community, to the unsaved, to the world, but not so much to the people in your life, to the Christians next to you. There isn't much of a sense of being built up together or arriving together at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (and I'm sure I couldn't begin to say what
that would look like!)
I'm wondering what others experience now?