Ministers with Character Flaws

 Ministers are called by God with flaws such as Peter a trader, liar, hot headed and very loquacious.  Judas was a greedy, dishonest and manipulating thief.  Peter and Judas both had been handpicked by Jesus for ministry. They had received a personal call “come follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” yet these men had character flaws.   In his personal walk with Christ, Judas was consumed by his demon of greed and theft and eventually committed suicide.  Peter converted from sin and in time was able to grow and strengthen the saints through his writings in I & II Peter.

The purpose of Christian conversion is to change one’s character in to Christ like character.  Occasionally we may find Religious leaders in the news media under the heading “The ______Scandal”.
While still conducting their sinful practices all in the name of God, some have chosen to maintain their mal practice as a religious leader and not convert to true holiness.  When Jesus says to his disciple Peter, “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Luke 22:32, He wants to prevent the making of mal practicing Christian Leaders, who wear religious titles and assume religious positions, but yet need to be converted. 

The passage “Peter when you are converted strengthen your brother” conveys to us that a person can be called by God to do ministry and still have character flaws. In John 13:18 Jesus said “I know whom I have chosen…”  The question is will the minister whom the Lord has chosen be converted and grow or will the minister play the role of a hypocrite and be consumed by his or her demon?  The antithesis of the problem is; cover the sin or be converted from the sin. When a person covers his or her sin then he or she will eventually be consumed by their sin.  Example: Achan and the golden wedge, Ananias and Sapphire (greed and lying) to the Holy Ghost.  The objective is to remit character flaws and grow into a more mature, stable, flawless Christian. Each day God gives us grace to grow and the opportunity to perfect holiness in the fear of God. 

So many Christians today are professing to be Christians without full conversion.  How messy, messy, messy!  A person who ministers to someone without being fully converted himself is like putting a bandage on an open sore without washing and cleaning the wound first.  The unclean wound filled with oozing whitish - yellow pus, blood, and bacteria will spread more and more infectiously throughout the body.  

Jesus in His wisdom saw the good that was in Peter and was not willing to terminate Peter’s ministry but, Jesus knew that before Peter could honestly and effectively help others again, he needed to take the time to repent, regroup and to heal wounds of the soul before attempting to advise, preach or minister to someone else. Without the proper steps of spiritual restoration the infectious evils will spread throughout the body of Christ.  Band aids such as; He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone... John 8:7;  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23-26 are good to cover the hideous sores of sin, but Jesus instructs Peter “when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Luke 22:32.  In other words when you have sinned please clean your infectious sores of sin before you reach out an infected hand to help someone else.

The objective of the Christian life style is to convert to a Christ like pure life style.

                                                             

... behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed  Rev. 5:5

Today I hail Jesus Christ as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  He has the power to break every chain. 

Loving Legacy 

God has given us many gifts, but peace is a priceless token of his love.

He said my peace I give to you.  Not an item like a valuable ring or watch or a perishable keepsake to remember me by, but a legacy of peace, Jesus said: “my peace I leave with you.”  Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  This is what Jesus peace looks like:

•      Songs of deliverance in the night season
•   A timely word spoken into your spirit in season
•   Calm in the mist of the scary storms of life
•   In quietness and confidence will be your strength   Isaiah 30:15
•   An assurance the all things work together for the good to them that love the Lord.

Peace is a Priceless Gift.  We can’t buy peace we cannot sell peace, but we can make peace with God and with others.  When we make peace with God and our fellow persons then we carry on the loving legacy that our Heavenly Father has given to us.  Because “Blessed are the Peace makers for they shall be called the children of God.”  Matthew 5:9

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. 
Proverbs 16:18

The Right Shoe

Shoes are good for protection from the parching ground or freezing snow.  Shoes are also symbolic of status and position in a given situation.  Shoes vary in size, style, fit and type of shoe for a particular occasion. Shoes can make or break an outfit.  For shoes to match it is a fashion norm .  For shoes to fit properly it is a comfort of life. An old cliche says "if the shoe fits wear it."

I remember so clearly one day at work strolling down the hallway on my way to the bathroom I kept hearing an unusual rhythm in my steps of click, clack, and clack click.  I felt a short step, deep step, short step, deep step, but I just kept walking until finally the unusual rhythm caused me to look down at my feet.  Yes!  You already know. When I looked down I had on mixed match boots.  One dark midnight blue colored boot and one black boot with one heel a tad higher than the other.  When I got back to my classroom I could hear a student trying to point out my mix matched shoes to another student.  What did I do?  I just kept holding my head up directing the lesson upward with my hands held high writing on the board, to draw the other student’s attention away from my mix matched shoes. The shoes fit me well, but they did not match the outfit that I had worn that day.  We make spectacles of ourselves when we station ourselves in positions to wear shoes that don't match our God given call; it is like wearing the wrong shoes, the wrong fit, the wrong size, to big, or to small.

In this life we have a myriad of shoes to choose from: dress shoes, casual shoes, house shoes, dance shoes, athletic shoes, safety shoes, etc. One type shoes that carries a great precaution is the high heel shoe. The high heel shoe is known to cause back problems, and foot problems.  As it is in the natural so it is in the spiritual, shoes that are too high can cause serious problems.  Often we see people stepping it off, prancing, stride by stride, wearing high shoes that give a feeling prideful and TALL. Stylish, chic, glamorous shoes of status can easily promote lost of life’s balance.  Wearing shoes that are too high can lift a person up to be positioned loftily on uneven playing field, with an aerial view  haughtily looking down on others.  Each step is pronounced with pomp, and pride, but oop’s watch your step, because wearing shoes that are too BIG and too high for you can make you stumble and fall.  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.  Proverbs 16:18
 

 Tips for positioning your foot in the right shoes:

1.   Don't take on positions (shoes) just because they are pleasing to the eye.  Try it on for size and count up the cost.

 2.  Don't criticize others unless you have walked a mile in their shoes.  You really don’t know how their shoes feel.  You can only see how they look.

 3.   In your God given shoes: See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, Ephesians 5:15