appropriatenessless?
some really great things have been happening in my life. the amazing thing is that i'm not talking about winning the lotto kind of amazing either. i'm talking about opportunities that God's been giving me to help others.
this has given me a whole new outlook on altruism and my role. i've always thought of this work taking place in grand places like an exotic foreign country or by men with stoic beards, bowl-cut hairdos & monk robes, but never in a place like my life and never by a person like me. i mean really, have you seen me?
as amazing as these things are, they present with their own set of problems. i'll try to explain, with the hopes that some one could help. 'cause i could surely use it...
the problem is all in my head. i don't know about you, but i've got this constant monologue going on up there when people are talking, which helps a great deal in gauging the appropriateness or inappropriateness (or appropriatenessless if you prefer) of what i'm to say next. with this in mind (pun intended) i come to my problem...
how much transformation can be expected?
2Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
this paste from the amplified bible of romans 12:2, implies the mind in it's entirety. if this be true, than i've got problems...
you see, i've got this voice up there...not the dominant 1 & not 1 that has any true influence over me anymore, but it's still there none the less. this concerns me, 'cause if my mind is to be renewed in it's entirety, it ain't happened yet.
let me illuminate...
i go to the kitchen the other afternoon & over hear the oprah that the old lady has blarin' in the living room. there's a fella on there sharing about how his partner got swept away from him on the beach in thailand during the tsunami. 1st thing to my mind is how this act is a just 1, because these fellows surely brought this on themselves by taunting the very 1 who made them by their alternative lifestyle choice...
i talk to a rn the other nite about her life. she tells me about her boyfriend and how he's dabbling in some stuff & wants her to join him in it. the very 1st thought in my mind is to tell how this is due to their living together in sin...
i have a great friend in another rn who just so happens to be a jw. we have great conversations about spirituality, but i continually find myself thinking about how wrong he is about Jesus & how it's my duty to set him straight...
don't get me wrong...i don't advocate a feel good theology, where grace abounds all the more and there is no consequence for sin, but i do know that i can also shut down dialogue by speech that is perceived as judgmental & manipulative. i just wonder if i'm doomed to have this small voice of fundamental, conservative religiosity bouncing around in my head always, hoping to sabotage the work that i know God's called me to.
can i expect complete transformation 1 day this side of heaven? what say u?
this has given me a whole new outlook on altruism and my role. i've always thought of this work taking place in grand places like an exotic foreign country or by men with stoic beards, bowl-cut hairdos & monk robes, but never in a place like my life and never by a person like me. i mean really, have you seen me?
as amazing as these things are, they present with their own set of problems. i'll try to explain, with the hopes that some one could help. 'cause i could surely use it...
the problem is all in my head. i don't know about you, but i've got this constant monologue going on up there when people are talking, which helps a great deal in gauging the appropriateness or inappropriateness (or appropriatenessless if you prefer) of what i'm to say next. with this in mind (pun intended) i come to my problem...
how much transformation can be expected?
2Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
this paste from the amplified bible of romans 12:2, implies the mind in it's entirety. if this be true, than i've got problems...
you see, i've got this voice up there...not the dominant 1 & not 1 that has any true influence over me anymore, but it's still there none the less. this concerns me, 'cause if my mind is to be renewed in it's entirety, it ain't happened yet.
let me illuminate...
i go to the kitchen the other afternoon & over hear the oprah that the old lady has blarin' in the living room. there's a fella on there sharing about how his partner got swept away from him on the beach in thailand during the tsunami. 1st thing to my mind is how this act is a just 1, because these fellows surely brought this on themselves by taunting the very 1 who made them by their alternative lifestyle choice...
i talk to a rn the other nite about her life. she tells me about her boyfriend and how he's dabbling in some stuff & wants her to join him in it. the very 1st thought in my mind is to tell how this is due to their living together in sin...
i have a great friend in another rn who just so happens to be a jw. we have great conversations about spirituality, but i continually find myself thinking about how wrong he is about Jesus & how it's my duty to set him straight...
don't get me wrong...i don't advocate a feel good theology, where grace abounds all the more and there is no consequence for sin, but i do know that i can also shut down dialogue by speech that is perceived as judgmental & manipulative. i just wonder if i'm doomed to have this small voice of fundamental, conservative religiosity bouncing around in my head always, hoping to sabotage the work that i know God's called me to.
can i expect complete transformation 1 day this side of heaven? what say u?
posted by lee at 3:59 AM
1 Comments:
funny. cause I am in the process of TRYING to develop a relationship with a jw.
this is what I am learning about the "theology voice".
I am glad it is there. it comes from study and listening to the HS. However, that voice is primarily for me, not them. I have learned that the "apprpriateness" of my retort needs to be led and given by Him as He leads. in my own flesh, I would shout at each on I meet...REPENT!
those words come when their hearts are prepered.
my words keep me thinking, but the hard lesson I have learned it this..."it is His kindness that leads us to repentance."
JTB confronted, then exhorted. Jesus loved, exhorted, then confronted out of love. as I am unable to follow this...i wallow in lost opportunity.
Be the rain their dry sould need. nourish them with those satisfying times you are Jesus to them.
besides...not to speak is often more for us than them.
sharing my journey...
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