Monday, December 12, 2016

Blessed are the Peaceful




In some ways, our organizations have been dedicated to PEACE for 40 years. We take the passages about love and the Fruit of the Holy Spirit seriously and attempt to make it practical in our lives.

As Jesus rightly said, "People cry peace, peace but there is no peace."

For decades ambassadors have been trying to get the Jews and Muslims to have peace in the Middle East. "Peace, Peace but there is no Peace! One of my friends said to me one day, "Why doesn't President George W. Bush just go over there are tell them to be peaceful?"

Good question!

At College Hill Presbyterian we developed a holistic ministry all built on the idea of knowing and doing Galatians 5:22-23

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control; there is no law against these in our lives. 

For most churches and church leaders, we just need to memorize this list and stop worrying about them. We love and worship the Bible so only the thing we need to do to be a great Christian is to read, memorize and share the words of the Bible.

As a teenager I was the champion of the Bible Sword Drill which had contests to see which kid could find various passages of the Bible fastest. I always won those contests.

At the same time, my actuaL life was an angry, hostile, rebellious wreck. I cussed, drank to excess, called people names and lusted daily.

My knowledge of the Bible did not change my behavior. I had not learned and implemented the practical skills taught the Holy Spirit. 

I am often called in to coach and counsel wonderful men and women in ministry who are burned out because they have not learned the practical application of the word of God.  The things I learned and started teaching 40 years ago are still a mystery to most Christian leaders.

If all I did as a basketball coach was tell the players to memorize the way to shoot free throws and how to dribble, they would never win a single game. No wonder Christians lose so many contests.

Support a ministry that actually trains and coaches people to act with peace and communicate with peace. 





No comments: