Passionate Imperfection
Posted on November 8, 2007 - Filed Under general |
I hope you know by now that my thoughts are never intended to be directed at anyone in particular…just men in general. On several occasions someone has responded and suggested that I was speaking directly to them and wonder how I knew they were experiencing something similar to whatever it was I was writing about. I usually reply by explaining that I was merely writing about something I have learned from my personal experiences, either recently or in the past. Funny how that is…the things I struggle with are often the very same things many of you struggle with. Of course, I already knew that or I wouldn’t be asking you to spend time considering my thoughts. I humbly pray that if I allow God to use my voice, He’ll find the spots where something needs to land in the hearts and lives of someone who may benefit in some way.
That said, you may remember that I’ve recently written about this idea of “passionate living” over the last couple of months with titles like “Does She Turn You On?” and “Passionate about your Kids?” among other things. Without a doubt, living passionately for our kids or anyone else is not an easy subject, but here’s one thing I’m certain of. There is a difference between doing all we should be doing to confirm our love for our children…and…enabling poor behavior while justifying it in the name of love. Said another way, there is no doubt that there is such a thing as “tough love”. You can call it what you want, but “tough love” is expressed in scripture by every prominent prophet, apostle, and disciple…not to mention God Himself, both in spirit and flesh. For example, something as profoundly simple as when Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but through me.” He is sending a loving, compassionate offer of abundant never-ending life, but also a clear warning that suggests significant consequences if we don’t agree that He (Jesus) is the only path through which we can reach The Father.
God clearly delivers the message throughout history that He does not want any of us to miss out on this free offer of “everlasting life”. (Matthew 18:14, John 3:16) However, to “perish” is not only possible, but inevitable…for those who refuse to accept this truth about Jesus Christ being the only “way” to God. To summarize this point…it is significantly important according to scripture that we all be striving to learn more each day about how to love unconditionally…while at the same time accepting the responsibility of difficult decision making that sometimes involves delivering challenging instruction, correction, or discipline that is in the best interest of the ones we love.
However, here’s a warning. If you’re like me, even some of our “Godly” decisions aren’t carried out with the best attitude or in the most appropriate way. You could argue that if something is not done correctly that it should not have been done at all…or that it certainly could not be “Godly” if we screwed it up that bad. I disagree…and fortunately so does God. Not much “Godly” progress or progress of any other kind would be made if we all waited around until we knew we would get it right the first time. That day or time would most certainly never come…or you would only hang out with people who told you what you wanted to hear regardless of the wake of destruction you left in your path. Not to understate the significance of this issue, but that would be like saying I’m never going to play golf until I know I will shoot a 69! If I don’t start with an ugly swing and maybe even get a few lessons along the way to accelerate my progress, there may never be a chance of me breaking a hundred, let alone scoring anything near a perfect round. My point…there’s plenty of “God directed” stuff that gets pulled off imperfectly by imperfect, messed up Jesus followers. Just talk to anyone you think is the “real deal” and he or she will confirm what I am suggesting by quickly giving you a couple of ugly personal experiences.
So it’s certainly not acceptable to “do nothing” about what’s obviously broken, neither is it acceptable to leave a broken mess behind as you sharpen and wield your spiritual sword, so to speak. More on this sharpening and wielding idea in a few days…
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