Last week, in part 1 of Living Hospitality, we saw the importance for personal hospitality and how our hospitality is connected to judgment and the end times. This week, we look at how that same principle applies to US - the church.
What role does/should hospitality play in our weekly gatherings? What are the consequences if we do/don’t practice it? And what are some simple ways that we can make our churches more hospitable?
Read MoreOUR differences are for MY benefit.
That's the key thought for the final installment in our latest series, Handcrafted. Throughout the series, we've been looking at how God made us each uniquely - as a masterpiece created for a specific purpose.
But in this week's message, we flipped the script a bit and saw that not only are WE masterpieces, the people who are different than us are also masterpieces as well.
And why did God make us all so different? OUR differences are for MY benefit.
Read MoreAre you an I or an E? An N or an S? A T or an F? Are you a J or a P?
That was our topic yesterday at The Well as we're in week 2 of Handcrafted and this week we're talking about PERSONALITY TYPE. Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as our backdrop, we discussed the differences in our personalities and how those differences might play out in relation to one another.
Why? Because as St. Augustine said, "How can you draw close to God when you are far from your own self?”
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“By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp.”
Even for those of us that seek to avoid it, these days it seems the brokenness of the world is inescapable. We are divided in our nations, our communities, and even our families. Old wounds reopen, buried grievances resurface, hidden tragedies are revealed. The way we communicate and engage with each other is changing faster than we can process.
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Below is a post I wrote at the start of this year and given the current state of our nation, I thought might be relevant today. Its message is one that I believe is at the core of our Christian faith (and our national identity as well). I pray that one by one, more and more people in our country - especially within the Church - would see DIFFERENT doesn't mean WRONG. It just means different.
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Can two people think differently and BOTH be right? Is that possible?
One thinks we should open our borders; another thinks we should close them.
One thinks we should help the poor; another thinks we should hold them accountable.
One thinks we should focus on evangelism; another thinks we need more Bible study.
Can they both be right? Or does someone have to be wrong?
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Can two people think differently and both be right? Is that possible?
Yesterday’s post on the contention between Paul and Barnabas – or pillows and swords as I referred to them yesterday – generated a lot of good discussion. I want to expand on the idea that I started yesterday about how two people can be very different – in their thinking and their personality and their decision making process – yet neither one is necessarily wrong.
People are different. That is a fact. From our fingerprints to our personal experiences to our ways of processing information, we are each unique creations of God. We are not randomly designed, but rather “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
We think differently. We talk differently. We react differently. We are different!
So far no one will disagree with me. But here comes the hard part: JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS DIFFERENT DOESN’T MAKE THEM WRONG. Different doesn’t mean wrong. It just means different.
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Who won? Who lost? Who came in first? Who came in first? Most importantly…who’s the best?
You don’t have to spend a lot of time with me to know that I am competitive person. That’s just how God made me. I can turn just about anything into a competition. Even fun relaxing activities – like swimming with the family at the pool – inevitably turns into a “who can hold their breath underwater the longest” competition with my ultra-competitive daughter.
I like to compete. And when I compete – while I agree 100% with the idea that the most important thing is to have fun – I’ve always felt that WINNING the competition is the best way to have fun! Winning is the most fun isn’t it?
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