James in the Bible says 'Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.' Sometimes when I think about how I am it would say 'Know this my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to listen to me, stop so I can speak and get used to my quick-fire response.' And sometimes I wonder if this is a general response of a lot of Christians! If we were more ready to listen and less ready to talk and become angry we would have fewer communication breakdowns. I have a heavy heart sometimes when I think of how I respond to things people do or say to me and when I think of how other Christians respond to things.
'Where is the love?', The Black Eye Peas sang and the following verse could be applied to my heart, to Christians, to the church:
I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I'm getting older y'all people get colder
Most of us only care about money makin
Selfishness got us followin the wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting their young minds faster than bacteria
Kids wanna act like what the see in the cinema
Whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness and equality
Instead of spreading love, we're spreading anomosity
Lack of understanding, leading us away from unity
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling under
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling down
It's no wonder why sometimes I'm feeling under
I gotta keep my faith alive, until love is found
Furthermore, I was really challenged by reading the book of 1 John in the bible. It is all about love, God's love for us, our love for God and our love for our fellow Christians. Wow, if as Christians we had that love for one another our churches would be such wonderful places to be. I know my heart is quick to see the ulterior motive in people but I have to start looking with the love of Christ and realise that people are just like me; forgetful, busy, tired, lazy, sad, lonely, grumpy, DRS etc and this will make them act in ways that don't look good. Love should be an overriding emotion in my heart and in the church of Christ. His love for us brought Him down from heaven to the cross and an extremely cruel death.
So thanks to the Bible and the Black-Eyed Peas for the inspiration for this post. May I live it and not just type it out.
