Living & Loving vs Lifeless Regurgitation

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J

Jullianna

Guest
#1
#1
I think about Christ - the way He lived. The way He taught. The way He spoke. The way He prayed. The way He confronted evil. In all of those things He never attempted to impress people with polysyllabic words and regurgitated mantras. He met people where they lived. He touched the heart. He caused people to think, not by insulting them, but by showing them light, truth and love.

I want to be like Him. Thank you, Lord, for touching my heart and helping me to resist the evils of being prideful.
 
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J

Jullianna

Guest
#2
#2
Oops...I meant believers, not "people", but the server won't let me fix it.. *sigh*
 
Descyple

Descyple

Senior Member
#3
Jun 7, 2010
3,023
48
48
#3
Jullianna said:
I think about Christ - the way He lived. The way He taught. The way He spoke. The way He prayed. The way He confronted evil. In all of those things He never attempted to impress people with polysyllabic words and regurgitated mantras. He met people where they lived. He touched the heart. He caused people to think, not by insulting them, but by showing them light, truth and love.

I want to be like Him. Thank you, Lord, for touching my heart and helping me to resist the evils of being prideful.
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I can sympathize with you here Jullianna, about identifying not only what Jesus taught, but also how He taught and for what end. I have an excellent quote from the book "The Incomparable Christ" by J. Oswald Sanders, in which he identifies the same meaningful aspects of His character as you just have.

"It is of interest to note the dominant themes in the teaching of the Lord, and to test our own teaching by His standards. It is noteworthy that He did not propound any special system of doctrine, nor did He adopt the current theological jargon, but spoke the language of life. He dealt with deep and enduring principles and master truths of perpetual relevance."
- J. Oswald Sanders, The Incomparable Christ, Chapter 16, pg 169
 
N

NodMyHeadLikeYeah

Guest
#4
#4
Jullianna said:
I think about Christ - the way He lived. The way He taught. The way He spoke. The way He prayed. The way He confronted evil. In all of those things He never attempted to impress people with polysyllabic words and regurgitated mantras. He met people where they lived. He touched the heart. He caused people to think, not by insulting them, but by showing them light, truth and love.

I want to be like Him. Thank you, Lord, for touching my heart and helping me to resist the evils of being prideful.
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I love this :) Thank you for posting it.
 
J

Jullianna

Guest
#5
#5
Exactly, Descyple. Exceptional quote.

I've been reading HIS words rather than my own this morning and praying. If I cannot find a way to express what I want to say that is not grounded in a true spirit of edification and truth, but rather of pride, self-righteousness and one-upmanship, I need to be silent or change courses. That is not the Spirit I am of. That is the spirit of the Pharisees whispering to me and I want no part of him. Not always easy, is it? :)

I'm human. I've made some HUGE mistakes, particularly in recent years, but, thankfully, I have learned a great deal from them. It is those lessons I long to share in order to prevent others from making the same mistakes and bearing the same scars, not some untested, regurgitated crap I read out of book somewhere written by someone I don't even know...

The Father I know. The Son I know. The Holy Spirit I know. but...who are you?

I want to be real. I want to share my successes and my failures in hopes that others can take from the good and avoid the bad. Others did that for me. I would like to pay it forward. But I can't do that if I can't meet them where they live or if making a point becomes more important to me.

Working in the legal field I have learned that if you explain a thing once, perhaps even twice, most people understand. If they still disagree, they either simply disagree (and I'm fine with that) or they are of a bitter, argumentative spirit (in which case I'm wasting my time).

I want to speak the truth, but in LOVE. I want to let the Holy Spirit do His job and not take it upon myself. :)

Lord, I'm praying that You will hold me to my words.
 
S

Stuey

Senior Member
#6
Aug 17, 2009
892
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#6
God bless you Jullianna, you are so encouraging. :)
 
LightningClap0002

LightningClap0002

Senior Member
#7
Feb 10, 2008
3,371
16
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#7
Jullianna said:
I think about Christ - the way He lived. The way He taught. The way He spoke. The way He prayed. The way He confronted evil. In all of those things He never attempted to impress people with polysyllabic words and regurgitated mantras. He met people where they lived. He touched the heart. He caused people to think, not by insulting them, but by showing them light, truth and love.

I want to be like Him. Thank you, Lord, for touching my heart and helping me to resist the evils of being prideful.
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It's interesting that you should mention this now. Part of the sermon Sunday hit me on the same topic. It wasn't related to the main purpose of the sermon at all, but just something the pastor said.

I don't remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of "we want to be a church that is a community, that encourages each other to be more like Christ every day." Many people have posted over the years trying to correct someone's offensive words by citing scripture about building one another up. I always understood this as encouraging them to seek the truth; love rejoices in the truth. But truth, even out of love, is only a part of the puzzle.

Keep in mind that even when you do fail, don't be discouraged, God does judge our hearts not just our failed attempts.
 
Liamson

Liamson

Senior Member
#8
Feb 3, 2010
3,078
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#8


Thank heavens we are not of those polysyllabic prideful unwashed masses you spoke of. Oh Heavens me, how dreadful that would be.



Sometimes, I forget that my purpose in defense of the things I am most passionate about, is not in the diagram, description or explanation of said things but, rather the demonstration...

 
J

Jullianna

Guest
#10
#10
Liamson: Nice jacket :)

Zero: I wanted to use the word "believers" as Christ used a different tone with mockers at times than He did His own (example: "brood of vipers"). :)
 
D

DavEtheBravE

Guest
#11
#11
.....ME TOO :eek:
 
K

keep_on_smiling

Guest
#12
#12
Thank you for sharing this. It's a reminder that I needed.
 
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