Yesterday, I heard about Megan and Grace’s departure from the Westboro Baptist Church. I too, was of the mindset that “I had all the right answers” and in my own righteousness self righteousness, I hurt a lot of people. I really thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was an agent of the Lord. I thought the message I was repeating was His. As it turned out, it wasn’t. I had my own ‘Saul on the road to Damascus experience’ and he knocked me off my high horse.
free photo source at Pix-O-Sphere | photo credit Amy Bayliss
The problem was that I was repeating what I was told was the truth, instead of going directly to God to get the truth. Some how I had gotten seriously sidetracked into forsaking the working of the Holy Spirit. I had unknowingly shoved him aside and put a religious leader in his place. Downward I spiraled into a black hole of death.
I thank God he found me (even though he knew where I was all along). I just didn’t know where I was. As he set my feet upon the Rock, he gave me time to rub my eyes and look around me. He revealed to me the damage I had caused in my blindness. The path of destruction I had left and the enslaved lives of those I affected. He shone his Light on two women I had misunderstood, women I had hurt, and I knew I needed to humble myself and seek reconciliation.
I’m thankful for God allowing them to be the first ones I needed to make amends with. Amy Bayliss (along with the other Amy) showed me what real-life-grace really is. They were not only forgiving, merciful, and kind, but they lavished me with love and support when they could have kicked me to the curb for being such a jerk. So when Amy says “Be sure you’re following the right Shepherd“, I pay attention. She knows what she’s talking about.
“Be careful what you are believing from the pulpit. Be careful what you are “liking” on Facebook. Be careful who you are promoting and sharing. Whether they are a good friend or not. It doesn’t matter. People are human. We make mistakes. We go through seasons in life, good and bad. When others blindly follow us in our mistakes it can have eternal consequences.” ~Amy Bayliss
I’ve been one of those who blindly followed someone’s teachings. I know where it leads. It’s not good. Amy went on to say,
“In this day and age we have too many people telling us what to think instead of how to think” ~Amy Bayliss
That’s how it works. We become arrogant in our beliefs and begin telling other people what to think and what to believe. Of those who don’t agree with us, we condemn. We shun them, ‘rebuke’ them, and call them enemies. We teach tell them all the things that are wrong about them.
Friends, God isn’t in the business of condemning us. We are pardoned. Not only that, but he has commissioned us to declare to the Gospel. We can so easily become enamored with the Christianeze lifestyle of prettying ourselves up for God, forgetting that our beauty is in Christ. Sometimes it’s the popular Christian mom bloggers who become sidetracked and lead us down that sticky black hole of self righteous works that we eventually become forgetful of the finished work of the cross. We become confused and while thinking we’re making our way up some golden ladder of “best Christian woman”, we’re actually digging ourselves into a bottomless pit.
It’s so easy to become enamored with many “Mrs. Popular Bloggers” and if we aren’t diligent to keep Christ centered, we end up idolizing these women and make them and all their words into a god. We’re all fallible human beings. We all make mistakes. We all carry the same amount of fallibility and could very well mislead each other.
“Iron sharpens iron”. That means we need to allow each other to scrape up against us sometimes. It hurts, but it sharpens us. If our comment sections are filled with “Yes women” then how shall we be sharpened?
Luke 6:26, ““Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” ESV
Tyranny reigns when it goes unchallenged.
Our lives in the kingdom are to be by faith. When one stands in the gates accusing us, they have sided with the enemy. They probably don’t even realize it. By Christ we are declared clean. Not by what we do, but by what he has already done. It’s fine to encourage one another to keep a cleaner home, have some modest fashion sense, or even give us creative ways to keep the romance in a marriage. But we all still make mistakes and shouldn’t allow ourselves to get caught up in the rat race. We’re not to idolize one another.
May we link arm in arm and walk together as we face this life by faith. Lets stop the condemnation and remember what Christ has done. He has set us free.
“Don’t be tangled up again in a yoke of bondage.” ~Apostle Paul
Thank you for posting this. The opposition for peace and truth is strong and sometimes the battle gets hard. So many of us promote self and our own self-righteous ideas. We tear our own selves down when we destroy others and we don’t even know it. God has a plan for us as a whole and we would serve Him well to embrace that sooner rather than later. Besides, some of the very people we think we should cast aside can become some of the most special people in our lives.
I’ll be honest. At first, I didn’t want to forgive. You live hundreds of miles away and it would have been easy to just forget about all of it but that isn’t how God operates. I need what you have. You need what I have. What I offer by myself is good but what we offer together as the body of Christ is unstoppable. We serve best when we serve together. And you never know what kind of person you are missing out on when you push people away. I am so glad I didn’t push you away. I am thankful that God brought you to my heart and mind regularly, and even more thankful that you listened and obeyed him. You are an amazing woman, Lisa. I hope you know that.
God knew we needed each other. More importantly is He knew we needed him and thankfully we saw that need. We certainly can accomplish great things together. The Sisters in our niche have been through a lot these past several years. I’m so thankful to have remained in touch with so many of you. I know at times all our lives take different paths and we each have our own struggles, but we need to stay close to God *together* and keep pushing through. When a sister feels isolated and pushed away, they get far too close to falling apart. We need to do better as a sisterhood for one another. We need to build up the unity together. I’m so thankful you have a heart for women, Amy. I know your ministry will always do well, because you remain true to the heart of God through Christ. Praying for ‘A Woman Inspired’. I look forward to the next online conference. Keep shining!
Hi,
I just love this: The problem was that I was repeating what I was told was the truth, instead of going directly to God to get the truth.
If we could just remember to ask God first. That is an awesome statement.
What a wonderful post – of forgiveness and listening to God.
Blessings,
Janis