Hurt.
Is this not the poison Ivy that meanders from the Garden of Eden all through the centuries to our pathways throughout every generation? And what is it that draws anyone to ministry in the first place? One of the huge incentives is that when we engage in any dimension of ministry, we help.
Due to this obvious reasoning, could I tell you it really gets me when I find that in my ministry I hurt my friends? Hurting friends is the yuckiest. It is a heart-breaker.
All through the years I have so disappointed some near me because I did not stay conservative as they gaged conservatism. One of my dearest friends ever (I converted him) eventually became terribly pained because I no longer preached forcefully from the Word.
When I began to realize I must change my position from believing the Holy Spirit didn't to did work in our lives, my heart sunk because I knew I would soon enter deep waters of rejection from many who counted on me. In some ways, I was their boy. While I continue to increase in Holy Spirit understanding, the pain of frustrating dear friends never subsides.
I'm not saying I waver regarding what little Spirit truth I know. I am stating that one of the really rugged channels faced when growing in Christ is the hurt among friends when it is discovered some no longer hold to the propositions once adhered.
Pride and arrogance in what we believe are themselves error. When in humility we realize Jesus may have set us against father, mother, brother, or sister, we may find a new kind of hurt we had never anticipated by any forewarning.
I cannot tell you exactly why I think to write this mid-afternoon; a time when blog-writing is not in my schedule. Maybe, just maybe, there is someone special who needs these words at this moment. Blessings as you try, as you cry, and as you grow under the strain of needing to always be in the approval of others.
Kingdom life is great and abundant joy. There are those times, though, where we weep because some who liked us no longer do. Oh how that pain really hurts.
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