I've gotten quite a few responses on my last post...and believe me, I appreciate everything everyone has said! A lot of you said things that I wanted to say and didn't know how to put them. So thank you! Make sure to check out the comments related to that post and see what others have said.
A friend of mine (like my little brother...only MUCH taller) sent this to me today. My Adam as I call him. He said I could share it and I definitely think it's worth sharing so check it out! And of course, let us know what you think!
You know that is an interesting blog post... mainly because i have heard several messages at Bethel dealing with the issue. I know there are things we can do to change, and there are things that are keeping us so far away from true fellowship and openness or vulnerability. I believe today we are all way way too busy. Even if we seem to have nothing to do and are bored... well we are still doing something; we busy our minds with several tv shows and music and internet rather than going out, meeting people where they are and really talking about eachother's issues. I am the same way, i personally have 2 tv shows that i am devoted to (i use them for spiritual reasons - LOST and Smallville), but i also have several other shows i'll watch just because i want to be lazy or i'm bored. So when some of us say we are not busy, we really still are - watching tv or busy wasting time... all which bleeps out the voice of God. Even our morning devotions become tainted by time. No longer can we just sit and be quiet with God. We have to stay on our schedule. It's so easy to spend 2 hours or more watching a movie or tv, but we have trouble spending more than ten minutes alone with God? The bible talks about having other idols before God... doesn't that include the media? I am sure all of us would rather spend 2 horus watching some action movie or comedy skit, than sitting alone face down before God... why? because it just seems so boring, and frankly i think we are afraid of what might happen. We have become so selfish on thinking that things should run by our clock. We create our time slots. This is all wrong. Who created time? This world is not ours; it is God's. Time is not ours; it is God's. Our possessions are not ours; they too are all God's. In fact, nothing is ours, we do not own anything; it is ALL God's... even our family. So again, back to being so busy... we are so busy that when we pass by each other and are asked how we are doing, we do not have time to stop and chat, so we just say we are doing fine. What would it be like if we were not restricted by time and a particular schedule? What would it be like to actually care about how someone is doing? Because we know how awful it is to ask someone how they are doing, and they actually do start telling us their life... we freak out because frankly, we don't have time to hear the "drama." God tells us to cast all of our cares upon him, but He also tells us to use our gifts and talents to help each other. We were made for each other, we were created to be together and help lift each other up. So the ultimate question is, How do we fix this? How do allow for more time in the day? Well for one, we can't just go from a busy schedule to one that has several open hours to spend with people. Lets be real, a change like this does take time. We have to create new habits, and they all start with little baby steps. We have to see the big picture and then work backwords to the tiny steps. Along with new habits is we have to actually care. If you do not care about other people, then you are dealing with other issues (such as personal walls put up because of some emotional hurt) which should be dealt with first. You also have to want to give your time to God and put it all in His hands. We have to be willing to sit in complete silence (without sleeping btw) so we can remember the sound of God's whisper again. And finally, we need leaders to mark the footholds before us... but don't wait for someone, all these changes we want to happen, starts with one. That one could be any of us... we just have to do it.
A friend of mine (like my little brother...only MUCH taller) sent this to me today. My Adam as I call him. He said I could share it and I definitely think it's worth sharing so check it out! And of course, let us know what you think!
You know that is an interesting blog post... mainly because i have heard several messages at Bethel dealing with the issue. I know there are things we can do to change, and there are things that are keeping us so far away from true fellowship and openness or vulnerability. I believe today we are all way way too busy. Even if we seem to have nothing to do and are bored... well we are still doing something; we busy our minds with several tv shows and music and internet rather than going out, meeting people where they are and really talking about eachother's issues. I am the same way, i personally have 2 tv shows that i am devoted to (i use them for spiritual reasons - LOST and Smallville), but i also have several other shows i'll watch just because i want to be lazy or i'm bored. So when some of us say we are not busy, we really still are - watching tv or busy wasting time... all which bleeps out the voice of God. Even our morning devotions become tainted by time. No longer can we just sit and be quiet with God. We have to stay on our schedule. It's so easy to spend 2 hours or more watching a movie or tv, but we have trouble spending more than ten minutes alone with God? The bible talks about having other idols before God... doesn't that include the media? I am sure all of us would rather spend 2 horus watching some action movie or comedy skit, than sitting alone face down before God... why? because it just seems so boring, and frankly i think we are afraid of what might happen. We have become so selfish on thinking that things should run by our clock. We create our time slots. This is all wrong. Who created time? This world is not ours; it is God's. Time is not ours; it is God's. Our possessions are not ours; they too are all God's. In fact, nothing is ours, we do not own anything; it is ALL God's... even our family. So again, back to being so busy... we are so busy that when we pass by each other and are asked how we are doing, we do not have time to stop and chat, so we just say we are doing fine. What would it be like if we were not restricted by time and a particular schedule? What would it be like to actually care about how someone is doing? Because we know how awful it is to ask someone how they are doing, and they actually do start telling us their life... we freak out because frankly, we don't have time to hear the "drama." God tells us to cast all of our cares upon him, but He also tells us to use our gifts and talents to help each other. We were made for each other, we were created to be together and help lift each other up. So the ultimate question is, How do we fix this? How do allow for more time in the day? Well for one, we can't just go from a busy schedule to one that has several open hours to spend with people. Lets be real, a change like this does take time. We have to create new habits, and they all start with little baby steps. We have to see the big picture and then work backwords to the tiny steps. Along with new habits is we have to actually care. If you do not care about other people, then you are dealing with other issues (such as personal walls put up because of some emotional hurt) which should be dealt with first. You also have to want to give your time to God and put it all in His hands. We have to be willing to sit in complete silence (without sleeping btw) so we can remember the sound of God's whisper again. And finally, we need leaders to mark the footholds before us... but don't wait for someone, all these changes we want to happen, starts with one. That one could be any of us... we just have to do it.
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