Day 21: Protecting Your Church

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"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval."  Romans 14: 17-18

The unity of God's children is the soul of fellowship.  He is looking for us to focus on what we have in common, be realistic in our expectations of others', resist gossip, encourage eachother, and support our religious leaders.  He is also looking for us to nip problems in the butt by going to the person the conflict is with rather than a thrid party.  It is about leading by example and being ever so humble when doing so.

We all know how hard it is to balance a lot of life's situations and people.  We often find ourselves picking other's apart, so much so we forget the things we have in common.  It could be a thing as little as your favorite food or music.  It is important to remember we are imperfect beings and most of our qwerks and flaws are the very things that make us who we are.  They are the things to celebrate because without them, you would not be unique.

I say we are all imperfect.  We all make mistakes.  It is important to realistic in our expectations of others'.  We all have an ideal of how things should go and how people should act.  We must be realistic with ourselves.  We cannot ask someone else to be perfect when we in fact are not.  We should be able to be in fellowship with many different personalities, cultures, and characters without divorcing them or the church.  There should always be a gap and/or balance of ideal and real.

Encouraging other's takes a lot of maturity.  So many of us, including myself, are quick to judge other's or place the blame on anyone but ourselves.  We are also quick to talk about it.  This takes us away from God, from fellowship, allows us to be judged, and let's loose our insecurities and pride.  We must learn to tame the beast of pride and insecurity by genuinely being happy for other's triumphs and winnings.  By also resisting the gossip that usually comes with it from our tongue or others'.  I am lucky to have met so many women and men willing to encourage each other even when they are on the same stage.  They are in fact part of the reason I decided to go beyond my judging and take the stage.  I am thankful each and every day.

Most importantly we should always support our leaders of God's words and wisdom.  They are the messengers which will at some point in time keep you on a Godly path or divert you from a godless one.  They are the ones torn between the human world and the divine and I can only imagine there are times where that is the most difficult place to be.  Be grateful we have messengers and guides for a world that sometimes seems to lose all hope.

"So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves."  Romans 14:22

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