Important Message for Christians!

I woke up this morning thinking about this passage in Mark 9.

38"Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." 39"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40for whoever is not against us is for us. 41I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.

and another one in Romans 4

4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

As a Christian one of my goals in life is to treat other people with respect and grace. I believe it is important for each of us to be careful about criticizing other people, especially other Christians. I have a sweet young lady very close to me that reminds me when I do this. (Often) There is too much as Christians that we agree on and that part that we agree on is VERY IMPORTANT! Let's let the main thing be the main thing. Scripture commands us to love one another.

John 13:34-36 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

It is so easy to focus on what I am against rather than what I am for! This tells me to be careful about my attitude and how it might effect my ministry, my behavior, my words, and my deeds. I pray that my Lord will forgive me when I have forgotten this and keep me faithful to this call. I cannot tell you how many clients I have seen over the last 20 years that have left the church because all they heard was what people were against. It wasn't easy to get them to risk going back. It ought not to be that way. They didn't see love, nor did they feel it. We need to change that.

"Now don't miss-interpret this and think that I am not against anything" :) However I think those of you that know me well know better!"

Love you... have a great day.