Friday, April 22, 2011

Talkers and Walkers

"Practice what you preach!"We hear that phrase so much its become quite an annoying cliche.
Recently my friend Shay Kelly posted a blog(http://www.project-5050.com/main/?p=819)  about an experience she and her husband Shane had volunteering.It really got my blood boiling after it broke my heart. If you are a volunteer I highly suggest you read it. Since we have started having breakfast with our community on Saturdays the one common expression people say to  me is how they have such a heart for this. There are many reasons people volunteer. Some because it makes them feel that in some small way there doing their part or at least doing something. Others may volunteer because it makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside . Maybe some feel "called to this" as I have often heard. The right reason to do it is because God said so (Isaiah 58) and because it is just RIGHT to do it. It is equally if not more important to do it with the right heart and right attitude. God loves a cheerful giver. It saddens me to know there are so called "men of God " who  believe they get to decide who they will serve and to what degree or that they are any different from anyone else. Now before you start blowing up on me let me just say I am not concluding that all men of the cloth have demonstrated this mentality,quite the opposite. I have met and seen the true heartfelt labor of men and woman who truly desire to please God and treat all people as equal and do it with grace,dignity an humility. BUT there are talkers and there are walkers and I'm not just referring to pastors and church leaders. There are those who preach and teach but do not walk in the very truth that they spew on Sunday morning. Which is probably why your church has no fruit, no anointing and the absence of the Holy Spirit. There are Christians that are  saying  "feed the homeless" and what there thinking is "not in my backyard".
Honestly I don't get the hang up . You are suppose to be taking care of the people that live much like the Savior you serve did. Have you forgotten that Jesus was HOMELESS!!!!
Luke 9:58 Jesus replied"Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
How could you invite the non profit workers into your home as guests while ignoring and cringing at the thought of inviting the very people they came to serve?
The pharisees did the same thing to Jesus . They wanted to be in His company without being with the company He kept.
.Mark 2:16-17 (message version)16Later Jesus and his disciples were at home having supper with a collection of disreputable guests. Unlikely as it seems, more than a few of them had become followers. The religion scholars and Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company and lit into his disciples: "What kind of example is this, acting cozy with the riffraff?"
7Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I'm here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit."
How would you like it if you had no place to live ,no money ,no job, no food and had to bathe in gas stations and do your laundry in a sink and on top of that suffer the indignity of having to show up to a food line at a church where its supposed to be full of love and be treated like they owe you something for doing what it is your supposed to be doing in the first place. Just wanting to sit down and get what they came for without feeling worse than they already did. Where is the love man? How can you not love the very people Jesus loved and lived for .If your going to talk the talk than walk the dam walk. I am not a preacher or a pastor and I'm no master of theology. I am just a 41 year old house wife that has a big mouth , cusses like a sailor and falls short daily but I am honest about who I am, totally in love with Jesus and I am sincere about my love for the people in my community.If your going to preach Jesus to people ,you also have to BE Jesus to people.

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