Meeting Jesus = Change

I will confess to you that I am easily turned off by religious people who try so hard to prove to me how spiritual they are. I have been in pastoral ministry for nearly 16 years, and I have been in leadership for 19 years. If you have met me and know me, you would know up front that I carry far more baggage in my life than God has ever intended for me to have.

But many of you know those people that I am talking about. They brag about how spiritual they are and how it is so hard to be fed anymore because they know so much. These are the same people that speak Christianese in church and around their church friends.

Among these spiritual people that I have been around the last 19 years, God has revealed a lot of junk in their lives. Spousal abuse; Horrendous marriages with a lot of fighting behind the scenes; Sexual harrasment; Numerous broken relationships within their own family;

Its a turn off for me because I am speaking about the spiritual people who rip into other peoples shortcomings in effort to build themselves up. Then when they are found out, they just run to another church with a brand new slate in hopes that they hide their baggage much better this time around.

I love it when we can be honest. I have numerous friends who deal with bad marriages, addictions, poor decisions of the past, and being judgmental. It has something to do with confession that we dont have it all together. It is a confession of a need for a savior on a daily basis. Its an honesty that creates community and celebrates when we see the change that God is making us to be. As I hand my baggage to God and he does a work of healing and liberation in my life, I enjoy the benefits of the changes that He brings in me and my good friends celebrate with me. What is even better is that knowing how much baggage God has rescued me from, it encourages me all the more when I see others giving their junk to God and making him the Lord of their life. It makes me want to cheer for them.

God is writing His history. He invites to write His history through you and me. When we are honest about the baggage in our lives AND we give it to Him and follow His ways, God will write an incredible story through you and me. The only way He will write His story is when we make God the Lord of our life. God will not write His story through us if we insist that we are the main character.

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