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Don't Let Your Opinions Get In Your Way
Too many people in churches have too many opinions, I think. For example, they have their opinions about what good worship music is, what good fellowship is, what good preaching is, how long or short a service should be, etc.
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Opinions keep people from hearing the voice of the Lord, and those same opinions repel most of the relationships around the opinionated person. People usually choose their church by their opinions. They typically say they are lead by God, but I rather think that most people are lead by their opinions of how they want to see things happen and what they want to be done to remain comfortable.
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I find that many relationships fall apart and are actually ended over the opinions of at least one of the people involved. Thus, families don't relate to other families due to their opinions, and churches don't relate to other churches because of their highly regarded opinions.
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Opinions build walls. I think that the Holy Spirit loves to challenge those walls and cause discomfort so that we might contest our own opinions.
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I often define bad religion when "it's more important to be right than it is to love." True religion is to set aside our need to be right and minister to the needy.
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What we call religion today is a controlling and manipulative spirit that decides by opinion what is right and what is wrong and vaguely considers the giving kind of love that our heavenly Father has and expects us to have. Jesus chastised the Pharisees and Sadducees because of overinflated opinions. Their religion was stale, and He told them so in no uncertain terms.
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Being opinionated is not good for you on a lot of levels and applications.
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Therefore, I suggest that we all sincerely ask the Holy Spirit to challenge our opinions of everything. Let's see what we are made of and just how yielding we are to His purposes, His will, and His great love for His people.
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An orthodox Jewish Rabbi friend of mine spoke to me about a person with which he was uncomfortable. His answer to his dilemma was that the person might be living up to his potential in God.
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In my youth, I didn't like being around people who made me uncomfortable. Today, I have found His "rest" even when I'm uncomfortable, and I try to love people from where they are.
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“I am the good shepherd;
the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd,
who is not the owner of the sheep,
sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees,
and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father;
and I lay down My life for the sheep." - Jesus
John 10:11-15
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Thanks for reading. See you soon!
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Wayne C & Stephanie Anderson & Your I.A.M. Apostolic Directors & Team
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