Welcome to the June 13th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
The Story of My Week
I felt a big ache this week.
I missed something from my past.
I missed the simple conversations I used to have with friends as we talked about how we were growing in our walk with God.
Maybe it’s me but I’ve gotten a bit bored of just hearing conversations about personal development, professional advancement, community engagement, and the likes.
I want to hear of the wonder that comes from an unpredictable relationship with God.
And it’s not talking about “how God did so and so for me”.
It’s just talking about the wonder of the friendship with God and how it is changing us.
Maybe it’s the issues of the day or just life that has sped up our lives. But conversations about God for God’s sake have become rare.
Maybe if I practice a bit of solitude with God, I’ll find a bit more joy in God for God’s sake.
But I still need to recover these friendships again.
Friendships that talk about God for God’s sake.
Things I Learnt
1-Discipline, not Enemy Actions: I was listening to Matt Redman talk about an experience from his past that showed a rather rarely spoken side of God.
In case you don’t know that name, he is the writer of songs like Heart of Worship, 10,000 reasons, Better is One Day, and others.
At a point in time, he developed tendonitis. It was so bad that his arm, wrist, and fingers started to seize up.
By the time he saw the right specialist, he told him that if he had come some days later, he would have lost use of his hand.
During that time, some people were telling him that it was an attack of the enemy.
But it wasn’t sitting well in his heart. He took time to reflect and realized that it was God’s discipline.
It was God giving him a pit stop. He was involved in leading at so many conferences and events.
He was a bit into his self-importance “oh I have to lead at this event and that event”.
It was God’s discipline and the way He wanted him to take a time out.
He learned that as a servant, he is dispensable - God can anoint anyone else to do what he does. But as my child, you are indispensable.
He had been working hard on his father’s farm that he had forgotten the joy of being at home.
God’s discipline can seem severe but it is an act of kindness.
God loves us too much to let us go on our naughtiness.
He will discipline.
Sometimes it’s Him at work.
Not the enemy’s action
2-Keep Preferences from Prejudices: My wife showed me a trending video of a Christian artist critiquing another Christian artist's craft.
I tried to listen to the critique to learn from it but I came out of it a bit confused.
All I heard were preferences.
It reminds me of the early days of my faith when some folks used to complain that we were playing non-hymnal songs in church.
Their preference was hymns and other music genres were seen as unspiritual.
Preferences will always differ but the quality of a song is measure by its consistency to scripture - not a personal experience or revelatory experience.
Any revelation that puts itself above scripture has already failed the test.
Anyway, Scripture even tells us how we should confront such matters.
We first confront the person. If he/she refuses, we take the elders to confront.
It is after this that we can go to the public to address it if the error has a public impact and would lead many astray.
By bring elders into the matter, we are allowing them to evaluate both positions and give the right position to stand on.
A microphone and social media should not take away the practice of right Christian confrontation.
We are first Christians
Brothers and sisters in God's family.
One family.
Postscript
May you shine differently as stars in a world where it is easy to fade into the dark. May your light point many to greatest light - Jesus Christ. Amen
Tata,
Tola
0 comments