The Compromised Teapot

Okay, today I have two entries. Don't get used to it. 

Many things have changed for me on this journey from guilt to grace. A few decades ago I would have called the person I've become thus far in the journey a "compromiser." Maybe some of you would still call me that. It's okay with me. Pray for me whether you think I am wrong or not. Just don't turn away when you see me or look over my head or past me like I don't exist. I'm still me and I love the Lord more than ever before. Surely, we can still fellowship and share our love for Him. At least I'm willing. . .

Oh, the big "C" word. I heard it multitudes of times from,  my pastors, my teachers, my parents, my fellow believers. Those who did not dress, eat, attend church, worship, sing, wear their hair, or clothing the same or more conservatively that we did were all labeled with it. Really, back in those days I equated their compromise with a lack of salvation or at the very least a lack of understanding the Scripture.

I am cringing again at the memory of how I felt. But it did get me to thinking. What composes actual compromise? After searching for several minutes, the only Biblical way to use the word "compromise" in a negative sense was to use it as a term meaning "give into temptation and sin". . . . Please note that this does not include wearing a nice tee shirt instead of a shirt and tie, among other things. 

So what is sin? I don't think there are big, hidden mysteries involving sin. God is loving and just. Why would He murk up the list of things we aren't supposed to do? 

Many look to the Ten Commandments. As paraphrased by yours truly living in grace, here is how they go: 

1. There is no other God. Only the One of the Bible. Don't put any other thing, god, desire, person, etc. above Him. Period. 
2. Don't bow down in worship before ideas, inanimate objects, statues, idols. Bow down only to the only God from the first commandment.
3. Don't speak of or use God lightly. He is not a joke. He is not a curse. He is the Creator and the Only God. To disrespect Him shows contempt.
4. God blesses rest. Many folks believe this is a commandment involving not eating out on Sunday or not doing lawn work, etc. From my studies and research, I see this as a call to take care of your health, and to set time aside for personal communion with God every day, not just one. Remember, I'm living in grace, not under the Old Testament.
5. Honor your parents. What if they are scumbags? Pray for them. Honor their position as those who gave you life. They are not perfect, and honoring them does not mean allowing them to abuse you.
6. Don't commit murder. I think we understand that one.
7. Stay away from immoral sexual acts. Sex is for marriage, and for pleasure within marriage. Not for any other relationship. 
8. Don't steal. Okay, that's another one we probably understand.
9. Don't lie about your neighbor, your kids, your. . . Don't lie. Tell the truth.
10. Don't envy other people and what they have. That's putting yourself above others.

And then there are the two commandments Jesus used in the New Testament to sum up all of the above commandments. Love God with all your heart above everything else, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.   

Forgive me. I know I have sinned. I know I will again. But I don't see any of the things I use to think involved compromise listed here. I don't see them listed in the original non-paraphrased version either. It is fine to have standards. But as soon as those standards become symbols of "proper" spirituality, they become idols and dilute the love we have for others
and for God. Judging other's spirituality or salvation by man-made standards brings about division, discouragement, wrongful pride, and deception. In today's world, I don't think we need any more of these things.

As always, I welcome comments or ideas. Feel free to share. I'm not one for debate, so remember these are my beliefs and ideas. If you don't agree, that's okay. We can meet in the middle and agree to disagree. Hmmm. Now that's REAL compromise. 

In His Grace,
Teapotjan

                        

A Tea Light in the Dark

Growing up I lived in the country about three miles outside of a small town. We had a few neighbors scattered about, but far away from street lights and big buildings, night time blanketed all of us in dark. It amazed the little, younger me that it was far easier to spot the location of some neighborhood houses after dark than in the bright daylight. We were surrounded by trees, and greenery blocking the view during the day. But at night, the neighbor's lights peeked through the tree branches until the final light was clicked off by the last person awake in that house.

I live the life of a city dweller now in a subdivision with many neighbors, street lights, and buildings close at hand.The night never quite gets its blanket tucked all the way around my home. So I shut the curtains at bedtime, and turn off the lamps, and the light fixture above the bed, and close my eyes to sleep the deep sleep of the tired and stressed. But even through tightly shut eyes I still see a glow emanating from the digital display on the cable box. It's not really noticeable during the day unless I'm looking straight at it, but without the competition of sunlight and table lamps it sears the bright light of its message straight into my brain. So, I throw a cover over it, or hide-it-under-a-bushel-yes!--so to speak. 

A few days ago, I wrote about life in the Bubble. The Bubble stands to be a place where lights go to learn how to burn brighter, share tips on how to maintain a good glow, and how to share the light with others. Not a problem, this is a good thing. The problem comes when all the lights stay in the Bubble. All gathered together blazing and illuminating the nearby dark. "Nearby" being the operative problem term. The brightest light in the Bubble overwhelmed in the midst of all the other bright lights.

We must take our light out of the Bubble. Friends, there exists an entire world blanketed by the dark. A world asleep to the knowledge that God loves them and wants to give them eternal light and life. We can be like that one display on my cable box shining brightly enough on its own to light the whole room around us.

Hide my light under a bushel? No! Hide it in a Bubble with a bunch of other lights? No! Let my light shine and show others Him? I pray YES!

In His light,

Teapotjan

Bitter, Bitter Tea

I have many, many thoughts crowding my head and stirring my heart today. Fallen heroes from my childhood. Changes in my beliefs. Christians taking firm stands against . . . . other Christians.

This short-but-not-sweet-entry finds me questioning the reasons behind separation from other Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching Christians. I, in my frail understanding, cannot see how it serves the cause of Christ. All of us who have accepted Christ as our Savior will fellowship in Heaven regardless of what style of Christian music we choose, what translation of the Bible we hold in our hearts, and how our pastor dressed in the pulpit. 

Dear Lord, please draw your children together. The world is in tumult and grief and sorrow surrounds us. Please, Lord, help us point others to You instead of pointing our fingers at others.

Matt Olson's Pursuing Transparency with Change

Northland Transitions Leadership

Yesterday's Stale Tea

Sundays bring lots of memories, good and bad. I can't help looking back on Sundays past. Growing up the way I did, so many things in my life revolved around church, church attendance, and church people: along with all the rules and "false heresies" that came with being a big "F" fundamentalist.

Don't get me wrong, I did learn a great deal of God's Word, and my parents tempered things through great home instruction. But in our early days of church attendance, my parents were still relatively young in their salvation. So they did what many young Christians do, and followed their pastor's lead and trusted that he was led to do and say the things he did by the Holy Spirit.

Before I get too far I must credit a blog entry shared by one of my friends. Bob Bixby's blog entry "The New Fundamentalism."  Many of the things he shared struck chords deep in my heart, and I knew I had to share his thoughts and mine.

In my time as a child and teen in church I believed that what you wore defined your spirituality at least in part. So as soon as I was old enough, I begged to wear hose and heels to church and school. I remember wearing hose to a camp meeting held in upstate South Carolina on the fourth of July because hose were what good Christian women wore to worship the Lord. Sawdust ruined said hose, so I had to have another pair for the next night, and the next and you get the picture. And the temperature was well into the 90's that week.

As for women in pants, they were acceptable only if you were out of town on vacation, and culottes were the preferred choice for the modest Christian woman. They still are for many. But after climbing up a steep grade to get to a waterfall at camp and seeing what the girl's culottes above me revealed, I changed my mind about that. Then, it became knee pants with a flap in the front and back to conceal the fact that I had two legs. According to the pastor and his wife, these garments had to look like skirts or they were sinful. I'm serious. "Women should never wear men's garments." Unless you weren't in your own town. You could wear them in someone else's city, but not yours. 

A good friend of mine who grew up in the same area I did with very similar experiences was told that men did not wear wire-rimmed glasses because they were "worldly." Horn-rimmed glasses ruled the day for the church men in our area because they were acceptable and set them apart as Christians. We both also apparently heard the same sermon about having animals in the house as being wrong. "Bless God. If you want hair in your gravy, go ahead and have a dog in your house. Satan would just love for you to have dog hair in your gravy, but I won't be eating at your house." 

There are many, many other similar things, large and small, that I remember from those days. I was taught to trust my authority. I was taught not to question-at least not out loud. I obeyed and judged others and lived in fear of displeasing God, my parents, the pastor, and the other church people. I did have one pair of pants I wore to elementary school so I could play on the monkey bars. I remember praying that God wouldn't return that day so I wouldn't go to Heaven wearing pants.

Many of you will realize how silly and wrong proclaiming these things as sinful really is. But some won't. There are still things proclaimed in churches today that are just as silly and foolish. You may get upset with me. But I'll say this: None of those things were wrong in themselves. But basing your own spirituality and the spirituality of others based on how they handled these items was and is wrong! These are preferences turned into "false heresies." False heresies make believers feel guilty for no reason, and Satan feel happy for their distracting properties.

That's all the stale tea I have for now. I'm grateful that God led me to seek out His truth and bring me into the light of his Grace. Search your heart and beliefs. Everything comes down to the Gospel, nothing more. Any additions or preferences lauded as indicators of true salvation and spiritual may lead you to swallow the lie of "false heresies."

In His Grace with fresh tea everyday,
Teapotjan

Teapot in a Bubble

A few days ago, I wrote about how some Christians actually pull away from unsaved people, and expect the unsaved to act like the saved. Baffling. How do these folks expect to show the love of Christ to the unsaved? From afar? With a tract? Maybe a radio broadcast? Those things may help, but the best way to share the Gospel is to share yourself as Christ did with us. 

I have lived and worked in a bubble. In that bubble, we had certain standards to follow, our own phrases and inside jokes, a distinct style to our dress, and a certain way to do things, and certain churches to attend, and on and on. Visitors that did not come from other bubbles just like ours stuck out like pins on a pincushion. Many were sure these visitors would pop the precious bubble and change life as we knew it. We were Christians, working in a Christian place, with Christian co-workers. Our Christian children went to a Christian school, and we went to meals and church with Christians. There were months at a time when I had no personal interaction with the unsaved masses. 

I know all the excuses to pull away from those unsaved masses and hide in the Bubble. Bad influence on the children; I'll be tempted to join in their sin; People will think I'm compromising, etc. I've used some of those excuses myself, and I'm repentant of that. Still, I know really sweet, amazing people who are still in the bubble and still using those excuses. Do I think life in a bubble is bad? Hold on while I pull out my pincushion---Yes, if it's the only place you ever inhabit and interact with others, yes, yes I do. PoP!

If you have received Christ as your Savior, and you are led by the Holy Spirit, and in the care of the One who created all, don't you think that He can protect you and your children while you are sharing His Gospel? Didn't He go to the unsaved, eat with publicans, and preach to the unsaved masses. Yes, that's the very reason He said He came to us. 

So, what is my point? Should we pull our children from Christian schools, get jobs outside of our bubble, and evangelize in downtown bars on Saturday night? No, not unless you feel that God is calling you to do so. We have to use common sense. However, we should fervently pray for opportunities to befriend those God puts in our way, and show that we care for them, the person, that individual, that God created. Talk to your waiter or waitress in your favorite eating place about their families, and work to remember their name. Engage those around you in line with small talk if you're not too shy. If you are shy, remember, sharing the Gospel starts with caring about others. So, find one person that you see often in a store or in your neighborhood. Befriend that one person or that one family and show them that you care about them even if they smoke, are divorced, homosexual, or whatever. You don't have to endorse their sin or lifestyle. You just need to love them enough to let them know you will help them and show them that you have a peace and grace that they don't.  That's exactly what the Bible refers to by "letting your light shine." You don't have to light a stadium full of people, just those God puts around you.

As always, there is more to say. But I'll save it for another entry. I'd appreciate any questions or comments you have. Is there something that you want me to discuss that I can ponder and prayer about writing? Let me know.

Out of the Bubble and still in His Grace!
Teapotjan