It has been a while since I've blogged. I think I got a bit discouraged since my last blog post, only at myself though. I think I got carried away and didn't really look at what I was doing.
I'm a firm believer that pushing your own convictions on other people is very counter-productive and not an effective way to reach others. But I think I recently, not intentionally, did that very thing in my last blog post about Halloween. When I started out writing that post, my intentions were to inform.
Obviously, I personally want nothing to do with Halloween. I feel strongly about that, but I know tons of other Christians feel completely different. I really just wanted to share and inform, but I know that my post was not written in the most effective way. I used a lot of quotes that I found and really liked...I thought they were great, but I didn't think about how other people might take it.
I honestly really feel like we should all do our best to research and pray about every matter and then, with the Holy Spirit's help, decide for ourselves if it is something that we should or should not be doing or participating in (and how that might effect our personal walk with Christ). Because everyone's relationship and walk is different.
I grew up in a church that was FULL of a lot of ridiculous rules. Rules that really were not Biblical at all, just stuff that, in my opinion were personal convictions being taught from the pulpit.
I was taught that if we didn't follow these rules and do what was considered 'right' in their eyes then we were living in sin, "backsliding", and needed to have some serious 'altar time'.
Then of course there was always tons of judgements and talking amongst the congregation as to if 'so and so' was living by the guidelines. There was a knew "heathen" to talk about each week.
You can only imagine how difficult that was as a teenager trying to find her way in life. It left me very hurt and confused.
When I finally left that church I ran from those rules and from God. It took me a few years to find my way back to Him. When I finally did, I really didn't know right from wrong anymore. Because of what I was taught I didn't know what to believe or even who I was. When I started going to a different church (same denomination) I couldn't understand why things were so very different there.
It was very difficult for me and took me a good while to find the truth for myself.
My point here is that I never want to be someone who forces my personal feelings or convictions onto anyone. I know how destructive that can be. I know that some things might be considered a temptation to someone, but not to the next person. Anything can be turned into an idol or an addiction, that's where our faith and help from God really comes into play.
It really all depends on your personal strengths, weaknesses, and your walk with God. So when we feel strongly that we shouldn't participate in certain things, that doesn't mean that everyone else who serves God shouldn't participate too. I think that if we are seeking God and want His will, then He will let us know what is right and wrong for our lives. The only thing we have to do is search His word, really pray about it, and be open to Him.
I am still a work in progress, as we all are. The reason why I started blogging was to somehow grow in my personal walk and maybe even help others along the way. I think that this is a big lesson for myself.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
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