When biblical correction gets taken as complaining and division

     We are called to rightly divide the Word of God, and speak in truth and out of love.  There are a lot of checks and balances that should be fulfilled before you go to another brother or sister in Christ and tell them that what you're doing is wrong in the eyes of God.  Of course don't go it alone, there should be 2 or 3 at least to establish the truth in correction.  If you go it alone, you possibly set yourself up for a serious tongue lashing, or segregation, or your ex-communicated all together.  If the one does not turn from his or her ways after being confronted with the truth, then turn them over to the desires and lusts of the flesh. 

     The bible is very clear and explicit when it comes to correcting the BODY OF CHRIST, not unbelievers but those who are in the faith.  Especially those in a leadership position.  We must remember that they are humans as well and are still prone to stumble and fall along the way.  It is our christian duty to help them, and even correct them if actions don't line up with the Word, or false teaching.  If you have a relationship with the one you are correcting then the Word spoken in truth and love should restore them and they would thank you for caring enough for them that you would confront them.  It takes courage to stand up to leadership and say, "Hey this isn't right!" 

     I was a leader for 10 years in the Army, so I have corrected and have been corrected before.  Both can be a positive scenario depending on how it is looked at.  No leader LIKES to be wrong, but we're human, no one is perfect.  We strive for perfection, and sometimes we demand or ask too much, or lead in a way or direction that isn't correct.  You as a leader MUST listen to those above you as well as those subordinates that you are leading.  If you don't know your people then how can you lead them, how can you motivate them, how can you correct when you don't know their motives.  There is SOOOOO much more to being a leader than just being THAT GUY in front.
    
     It takes even more courage especially as a leader to admit to yourself that you are in the wrong and those coming before you are speaking truth.  You have two options at this point, you can either do what is right and change your ways and apologize and ask for forgiveness.  Or you can go the other route and decide FOR YOURSELF, that they don't know what they are talking about, they misunderstood you, your motives, or your words spoken.  One leads to right standing in the eyes of God and will be blessed and it will strengthen the relationship between the corrected and the correctees.  The other leads down a road of hard going, major uphill battles, division, strife, backbiting, and possibly the unraveling of the work that God had in store for that individual.

     If someone doesn't fulfill the vision that was given by God especially to the corporate body of Christ, then God will raise another individual or group of individuals to accomplish His will.  He will find, appointment, and equip those to do His perfect will out of obedience and love.

First Impressions

     Why is it that we judge someone based solely on what their outward appearance or their outward expressions?  The reality is that those first impressions usually stick with us and can continue to form and shape our relationship or interactions with that person.  Instead, if we took a few minutes, literally only a few minutes and really asked and REALLY LISTENED to them, we might actually see the truth instead of our scewed, bent, or twisted interpretation of the person we call friend, co-worker, or God forbid family member or close friend.  Take a look at your most important relationships and ask yourself if you ASSUME because of past behaviors, actions, or comments made.  Does the past shape your present and future interaction with that individual? 


     I'm not saying that we are wrong all the time about first impressions, not at all.  I personally feel that those thoughts are very important when it comes to daily interactions with individuals or groups of people.  It's a great defense, but does it get in the way of the real relationships in our lives?

Visions of Grandeur, or just Delusion's?

     Some say we all have a purpose in life and that it’s our job or duty to find out what the purpose is and do everything we can to make it happen.  Others just say that life is what you make it, “It is what it is.” If you subscribe to the first line of thinking what if you’re not at all happy with what your role in life is, what if it’s the farthest thing from what you consider to be your calling.  I’ve recently come to this point in my existence and I refuse to accept the terms placed on my life.  Would it drive you to the brink of sanity if you knew that you were created for a destiny that is so evil, so horrific? 

     How could a God that is so loving, caring and giving predestine a child to an eternity of damnation?  If an omnipotent being who knows the beginning from the end can know that I will be born as a pawn on his chessboard of life, then how do you really know if you will enter eternal rest, instead of eternal torture.  And then there’s a group of people who think that yes, life is predestined, BUT, we also have free will to choose for ourselves what our reality will be like.  I’ll admit this last philosophical thought is intriguing to think about and ponder, but you quickly find yourself in a vortex of thought and there are no easy or clear cut answers along this line of thinking.  Because everything is predestined to happen, but I choose to participate or not, but then that participation or non-participation would be predestined as well.  But in the end I choose to believe I have free will so I can sleep better at night.  Do you see how this line of thinking could be paradoxical in nature? 

     So back to an all knowing and all seeing God who loves but predestines a human-being to eternal torture, but then someone else can enter into an eternal heaven.  How does one reconcile this within themself without driving them insane.  What if you truly in your heart of hearts, thought you were saved and going to heaven, but through the course of life you realize something is terribly wrong with your eternal perspective.  You start seeing warning signs, and the fingerprints, of an agenda that was not of your own making or creation, but it is one that you are sentenced to.  It is one that you are destined to fulfill because SOMEONE has to, might as well be you.  So you willingly do it not out of anger but out of LOVE for your fellow man, because you see the big picture.  Do you have the capacity to understand all of your calling and still complete your mission?  Do you have what it takes to keep it all together long enough?  Or will you have such contempt for the one who is responsible, so much so that words can't express the level of anger.