Wednesday, February 27, 2019
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.” Luke 17:1-4(NLT)
General Conference 2019 is in the
books, and now comes the clean-up. It’s
not just sweeping-up debris left in St. Louis’ Dome Conference Center, but the
debris of tempers that flared, hearts that broke, spirits that are crushed, and
lives that must be lived. No matter
which side you may have been rooting-for, or if you were just
observing, shaking your head at it all, votes were cast, one side declared in
the majority, and the division in the United Methodist Church will continue.
As does the struggle between
darkness and light…everywhere!
Jesus reminded us that temptation
to sin is endless…and those who promote such with their words, attitudes, and
actions will suffer judgment at the hand of God. For those who “won” in St. Louis, this is no
time to gloat. Gloating is rubbing salt
in the wounds of a rebuked person, and, frankly, losing a contentious battle
with 13 million worldwide participants, before a world population watching
Christians duke it out in the Dome…well, that’s enough salt for one day. In fact, it’s enough salt for a
lifetime. It is now time to lay down the
banners and placards; the process is over, and readiness to forgive is all that
should be on the table. Jesus said we
must be ready to forgive endlessly; 70 x 7 is a really big number!
Just one thing about the winning
side – there is no winner when Christians brawl. It makes little difference who the aggressor
was, who carried the day’s vote, or whether the decision made was right, wrong,
or inconsequential; the most consequential piece of fallout is that
denominational squabbles are not played-out in a vacuum; the world has seen people
who purport to be disciples of the Prince of Peace acting like World War II was
just a minor disagreement.
I have heard sociologists and
psychologists hold that it takes roughly 10 positive words to overcome one
negative word. If that is true, and I strongly
suspect it is, the four days of this General Conference will put off any kind
of sweeping revival for the cause of Christ by at least two centuries and
another dark age. In the end, I’m certain
there is rejoicing in the pit of Hell.
And, with those words still
ringing, annoying to the bone, I will quit talking about General Conference,
and the Methodist bruhaha. It’s time to
get on to something important.
For You Today
Let’s let Scripture speak a word
of healing for today:
Be still in
the presence of the Lord,
and wait patiently for him to act.
Don’t worry about evil people who prosper
or fret about their wicked schemes.
Stop being
angry!
Turn from your rage!
Do not lose your temper—
it only leads to harm.
For the wicked will be destroyed,
but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land. Psalm
37:7-9(NLT)
This is how to clean up after the
storm…even if you helped make it!
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