Building Relationships through Serving Communities and others is living God’s Love. Photo Credits – Dawn Dramis

What are your actions saying about you?

In the wake of recent event that has happened, once again I see changes to the landscape of American hearts. This has left me unable to sit back and remain silent. This blog was created to encourage women of faith to seek and see God in their everyday lives. While it is true that I do not confront, debate and very rarely enter into a conversation about the issues of today that leads to an uproar of emotions. It would be a disservice to you and myself not to discuss what is weighing heavy on my heart. It is the behavior of proclaiming Christians.  Now do not get me wrong, I know we are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I have opened mouth and inserted foot way too many times. But the point is our behavior is just as damaging as what we say. Online behavior makes me cringe when I see “christian” strangers bashing strangers and visa versa. In these instances, I do not speak at all that would be reacting instead of responding like I talked about in my last post Father’s eyes. There are things that we need to remember when it comes to post and comments like these.

• No one knows anything about each other and everyone is reacting. Some say “speaking the truth in love.”
• Not everyone believes in the Bible. To a lot of people, it’s a bunch of fairy tales and hogwash.
• Most are governed by fleshly desires and worldly wisdom. Not by God’s wisdom that He gives to those who seek Him.
• They do not and can not see the body of Christ (us) in their world or the world around them being an example of Christ and His love.

Our methods have to change!!! When throwing Bible verses at them and debating about who God is and that we are not judging them but instead we are “loving” them is not going to lead them to the cross. It is like when I was a little girl. My grandmas had a gas burning stove. Every morning my great grandma would boil a pot of water. Every morning great grandma would say, “Crisi, do not touch that (as she pointed to the iron burner). You will get burned.” Of course I knew better than her and one morning I touched it. Guess what? I got burned and screaming my lungs out. She did not scold me and lash out truths to me. Instead she reached out in love and with empathy and tenderly treated my burnt little finger.

How Are We To Respond?

While we have been commissioned to make disciples and the spread the gospel. We were first called to love one another. In order to love one another, we have got to build a relationship with each other first. If we skip this first step, our message no matter how truthful and loving we say it. It will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes. When Jesus started His ministry, He built relationships, sat down and eat meals with them. He made a way to be in their lives. Jesus was our perfect example of how to love.  As we build our relationships, pray that their hearts will be softened. Pray that the words we speak are from God. Pray that your life is a living example of God’s love, grace and mercy. God will open the doors of opportunity to share His word in truth and in love because you took the time to cultivate that relationship. We cultivate our relationships by truly listening to them, getting to know them and about them. We make things so complicated because we forget we are here to plant the seeds. Their repentance and redemption can only be done by God.

Chime in with your thoughts. I would love to hear what you have to say. This post is being shared at Christian Mommy Blogger, come on over and check out other bloggers who link up there.

In His Love, Crisi