Recently read a blog by a wonderful person I so admire. This person is known for writing eloquently and poetically, they've been able to reach the multitudes. A recent post, written to the North American Church, was also eloquently written and had some great points but when I finished it, though convicted myself - not convinced it was totally God's heart. And as I asked Holy Spirit what He thought of it, He said this: "fancy thoughts, but no love." Dang. Fanciful words but lacking what mattered the most - God's love. I wonder what this person would think if they first asked God what He thought about what they were about to publish to multitudes. And I was blown away cause even though I'd felt that deep down inside, I kinda wanted to believe what this person was saying because I admired them so much, I was trying to convince God of their arguments and sufficient truths.
But alas, it wasn't good enough, He didn't seem to care. Why? Cause 1 Corinthians 13:1 describes God's thoughts on such things like this, that "if we can speak the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, we're nothing but a resounding gong or clanging cymbal." I've heard the sound of my son running around clanging pots and bowls and it does nothing but shatter my eardrums and annoy the heck outta me. NOTHING. Without love, our beautiful and eloquent words and songs - as convincing they may be - are nothing in the currency of Heaven.
So in the end, it reminded me three things. That first of all, I could admire the heck out of someone but I still need to admire God and His thoughts first and foremost cause He's perfect, the way He loves and thinks is perfect and we as humans just aren't. Sucks to be reminded that we're not perfect but it's true! So as much as I admire teachers, encouragers, pastors, etc., what they have to say may not be totally reflecting God's heart and truth. We need to check our hearts when it comes to those we follow, do we put them on pedastools and think that their word is the highest?
Secondly, when did it become popular to judge the Bride? I call it Bride bashing, people needing to give their 2 cents as to how the church needs to change, what the church is missing, yadayada and c'mon, I've even done it myself! But God clearly reminded me through this post that He doesn't see the Western church, Eastern church, this church or that church, He just sees His beautiful Bride - flawless and beautiful. Sure she needs some work but we all do and that's why He sent His Spirit - to see us become all we were created to be as His Bride - individually and corporately as a church. So if we see something that needs to change or see something lacking, whatever the case may be, I'm not saying turn a blind eye and neither is God!! Because God's obviously opened your eyes to see something that's missing. But it's what you do with that that makes a difference. If you wanna make a difference that will actually last (change in the spiritual realm not just physical realm), we need to ask Him for what His strategy is. How do we pray? Is there something He wants us to do? And just wait for Him to answer, trust Him to answer cause He cares more about the destiny of His church than we could ever. But let's just follow the formula of Proverbs 3:5-6. And imagine how much more powerful it would've been if this person could've just shared the awesome stories of what God did in her heart or in the people, shared stories of what she witnessed and allowed the God behind these stories to bring encouragement, strength and if necessary, conviction?? Ah, but isn't it more fun if we do the finger pointing sometimes, don't we feel like that'll take care of things more efficiently! HA!
And lastly, most of all, it reminded me that if at the ROOT of all eloquent writing and soothing songs is not LOVE, then it has no value in God's eyes. No value in the realm of His Kingdom. And if it has no value in God's eyes, then it won't really make a difference no matter how flashy it is. Like an expensive European car - with no engine. Like a hot air balloon - with no air. Like a cell phone - with no reception. We get the point. It really brings up a deeper question - do we value what God values? Why value what God values? Hmmm...good things to dig deeper in, reading books like Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, the Corinthians and Romans can help answer those questions.
So it was just a gentle reminder that whether it's a sermon, book, whatever, we need to filter it through the Holy Spirit - who is truth and promises to lead us into the truth (John 16). Filtering it through the heart of God, but I guess that's if we first care about what He deems valuable...
tSl
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