So I was having a discussion with my mother on the way home from church about some of the changes Ive made in my life spiritually. Just expressing the revelation that Ive received from the Word since Ive been under this new ministry. So excited to express these things to my mom...I was just waiting for her to be like "PRAISE THE LORD I'M SO PROUD OF YOU" but that is not the response I got. Instead I received "Ive told you the same things and as a parent it hurts for you to receive from someone and not me". You can imagine that this kinda made me MAD!!! My thinking at the time was WHY CANT YOU JUST BE HAPPY I AM LIVING RIGHT...is there no pleasing you SHEESH! To be quite honest I was kinda pissed at the whole situation....Like usual I sat down and reflected on what was being said in the conversation because I just couldn't understand what the big deal was about who I received it from. My position remains the same....but the question in my mind now is....WHY DIDN'T I RECEIVE BACK THEN? What makes it so different now then back then. Especially since now I am living on my life very far from any family or friends and could live my life any way I chose...why wait till I become completely free to become "free". Get it? What was the the missing link? Or should I say who....
As a teenager/young adult there is a natural rejection to anything someone that is significantly older than that said individual, right? We all know it. As young people we are looking for that next level in life of fulfillment, we look right to the level of success around us. So for me that would've been the young people just ahead of me, those living the fabulous life, wearing the fly clothes, driving that car, and with the flawless hair. Not to say my mom was not that woman but that she was too far ahead for me to want what she had...those days were past for her and she was/is in a different place in life.
The ones I watched....were doing just about the opposite of anything my mother told me. Gave me the exact opposite advice and guidance. Who was I going to listen to...me being a baby Christian at the time? I'm looking at two women....one who I want to be like the other who I love dearly and want to be like but just not right now. Both seemingly Christian and working in the church. So I took the other route. What was missing for me was that fly link to tell me what my mother said in that way that wouldn't upset my stomach. But they weren't there...
Now is that to say I had an excuse to go down Christian-Hypocrite Rd.? NO! Its to say as a family of believers there is some responsibility. As Christians our lives are not our own...its our responsibility to not be stumbling blocks to other believers.
In my church I know that the teens and the others younger than I look to me. It amazes me when someone comes up to me and says...."Leslie your so beautiful and I love how you live for God....I wanna be like you" WOW! I'm sure some of their mamas are saying the same thing as what I am saying....but how much easier is it when someone you aspire to be NOW says it! That's what you call confirmation people!
I know for me a big part of me making a shift was the group of people I hung with....we all were young, coming from different cities, and longing for a change. Then this man and woman of God showed us how God wanted to use us NOW! All of this in a rusty hotel room.....this same small church now gets over 100 souls saved in street evangelism in one hour and raises over $100,000 in one service less than 3 years later.....YES & AMEN!
The missing link in the church these days are those 19-35! Im so tired of seeing just old people and babies in church. Even more tired of seeing the missing links there but they are doing everything contrary to the word. If you cant take that drink with your Pastor, if you cant sing that song lyric, or do that dance, tell him who you live/sexing with, or say that word when you are the MC at afternoon service....maybe you should rethink it. You are setting the standard for those under you.
I never will forget when I was in "Youth Church", must of been about 13-14 yrs old, two individuals attempted to talk about abstinence. Yet refused to discuss how that meant NO SEX....they bounced around the subject like I don't know what! They claimed it just didn't refer to sex and talked about other things they were comfortable with. It was a devastating moment in my life....needless to say both of these individuals were fornicating...and I knew it. We all were laughing at them the whole time, they thought they were fooling us....THEY WEREN'T! I mean they were still serving so it must of not been that bad....maybe mama was over doing it with the no sex thing....or at least that was the stronghold that began to form in my mind. Not many years hence (well it took a while).....well lets just say NOW I AM THE FORGIVEN!
I am just saying....step up! Stop faking it....cause we all know...and even if we don't....GOD KNOWS! We are responsible for these kids....I wont let one slip by me being a bad example...
Yes we all make our own decisions.....but we are a family....more is CAUGHT than TAUGHT!
That's the love of God.....simply stated!
1 comments:
Leslie! This is nothing but that good stuff. I definitely understand your mom's heart, but like you said, its hard when you see no one that "looks like you"/ in your age group doing the things that your parents are telling you to do. It just seems like an oxymoron, and that your parents obviously do not know what's going on in "the real world". Plus, we all play the hypocrite, from young adults to elders.. so sometimes we even witnessed our parents not practice the very thing they were preaching to us, which did not make it any easier.
BUT THANK GOD He is redeeming His name in this generation... not four our sake, but for His name sake. He plans to separate a people for Himself, just to show the world His sovereingty and HOLINESS. My salvation is not even my doing, but the work of a JEALOUS GOD.. BUT I WILL PURSUE THIS LOVER OF MY SOUL NOW THAT I KNOW HIM, and hope to wear His name well!... since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, young AND old, that are waiting to see a group of people pursue God in Spirit and in Truth!
Let's do this Leslie!!!
"'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. 23 I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.
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