ServantForLife

This is a hard questions to answer.  It’s one that all of us struggle with from time to time.  Or maybe a little more often than that.  We live in an age were there are so many different styles of worship music ranging from classic hymns to ultra contemporary worship in which you feel like you are at a concert.  Each of these styles affects us differently.  Some of us start working on to do lists in our heads when we hear hymns.  There are those who cringe when we feel the kick drum pounding into our chest.  For some, it’s a particular writer of worship songs that engages us more than others.  For a different group, a certain song writer pushes them away.  For some of us we just don’t enter the sanctuary until worship is over.

Pastor Eric challenged us this week to ask ourselves the question “Which of us is right?”.

In the past year I have learned a lot about how different people view worship very differently.  I have also learned how to approach worship when a particular song or set of songs doesn’t seem to engage me.  I’ll give you an example.  A favored song in our church is “God of this City”.  This is a wonderful song that engages a large portion of our congregation.  This song does absolutely nothing for me spiritually.  I have tried in every way possible to find and engage with God while singing this song.  Nothing.  I actually began to find myself totally disengaging with the entire worship service due to my dislike of this song.  About a month ago though, it hit me.  I discovered how to engage in worshiping God through this song.  It was very simple.  PRAYER!!!  When the song started playing on that particular sunday, God put it on my heart for me to pray.  I found such joy in that time of worship.  It was at this moment that I discovered how to continually engage in worship though I may dislike a song, hymn, or anything else.  It was so simple.  Prayer.  So my challenge to anyone who may read this, if you find yourself being distracted from worship because of a song or instrument or even a bad mix.  Stop and engage with God in prayer.

SK

So it’s been a while since I have had the chance to post up here.  I have really missed it because it gives me the chance to really get my thoughts down coherently.  But now I’m back and ready to go.

So Peacemaker’s Second G revolves around Matthew 7:3-5.  The first time I had heard this passage was on Youth Group ski trip. It was expressed with such gusto and feeling that it has made it nearly impossible to forget  Let me set the scene.  We were in the conference room of a hotel, most of us are tired after a long day of skiing, but still enjoying our evening bible study. My mentor Jeff Reed brought up this passage in regards to our evening bible study.  He took a little liberty with his translation though. So I’ll give it to you in the Gospel According to Reed version.   ” Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brothers eye  when you have a huge frigging plank that you have to have to yank out of your own.”  Now add on top of that a really intense expressive voice and hand motions, and you might be able to see why that verse has stuck with me.  It impressed upon me at a young age the importance of looking at my own faults before others.  The difficulty then was to actually do it.

So how does this fit into being a peacemaker.  Well the log in our own eyes at some point has become something that we need or want.  And when we don’t get these things, we become angry and judgmental to the point of taking it out on other people.  This is the portion of the conflict that we are 100% responsible for.  What has become so important to us that it has gotten in the way of our relationship with Christ and with another person?   It is very easy to look at someone else and blame them entirely for the conflict we are in. It is very difficult, however, to figure out what we have done to contribute to the conflict..  To discover this we need to really examine our motives and ask some serious questions of ourselves.  We need to pray and study scripture to discover where we are sinning.  Finally we need to confess to God and others whom we’ve sinned against exposing the log in our eye and ask for forgiveness..  That confession needs to be honest and done with humility.  

One thing that Paul Cornwell from Peacemakers said that really struck me in all of this was that “Forgiveness is only the first step.  It gives you the capacity to resolve your conflict.”  So finding out what my log was and seeking forgiveness for how it affected another person is only the beginning.  It opens the door for me to begin resolving my disagreement and bringing me to unity with a brother or sister in Christ.

Lord give me the strength, guidance, and wisdom to seek out my own faults and issues.  Give me the courage to address them and ask for forgiveness.  Give me the strength to always believe the best in my brothers and sisters in Christ by examining myself for fault first, before I go looking for it in them.

SK