So this past weekend... pretty much rocked! haha! Sunday was an absolutely amazing day! Let me tell you about it:
Sunday morning, as always, my family goes to church. A church that I have grown up in and over the past few years have watched God turn us around! I've watched the church leadership take steps to ensure that we as a church are living biblically in the way that God has told us in His Word that we should. We are no longer doing things 'the way we've always done them' we are now looking at scripture and seeing how God says we should do things. It's been a wonderful thing to see! Well this past Sunday was no different. We've been going through the book of Acts, and whenever we start going through a book we go through it verse by verse, seeing it and reading it as God intended, not skipping parts that might be difficult to understand or accept, and I love that!! Anyway, back to Sunday, we were going through Acts 10 (you should go read it), and were talking about how God revealed some prejudices that were in Peter's life and how that was sinful, because Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross was for everyone, he wasn't prejudiced and we shouldn't be either. To help us see some possible seeds of prejudice in our lives, our pastor gave some examples of real life situations in which our initial reactions would expose some areas we need to examine and apply a more biblical and Godly mindset. To some, these were really tough situations. One of the situations that stood out for many was the example of marrying someone of a different race. I went away from the service thankful for Godly and biblical teaching and wanting to be aware of possible areas of prejudice in my own life and continually make a concious effort to be Godly in all my actions and thoughts.
Well then on Sunday nights, our church has started LIFE Groups. Basically the big congregation splits up and meets in smaller groups in homes to further discuss the morning message. I've really enjoyed this, as it has helped us as a church to get to know each other better and has allowed us to be the church to each other alot easier by getting to know each family and what each family is in need of or is struggling with. I've also so enjoyed the discussions we have in our LIFE Groups. Well on this past Sunday night, we were discussing the morning message over Acts 10. For several within our group, the example situations revealed areas of prejudice that they had never considered prejudice, particularly in the area of marrying someone of a different race or ethnicity. It was the way they were raised, to think that that was wrong, and that it was right to think it was wrong. That everyone was equal and everyone was treated with the same amount of respect but that you just didn't marry people of a different race / ethnicity.
I had expected this much, but what happened next blew me away. People were convicted! Instead of saying 'Well that's how it's always been' or 'Well that's just how we were taught', they realized that they were taught this way, but that that didn't make it right. People went away willing to throw out what they were taught, what they had known all their lives to embrace a biblical mindset, so that they might better serve, love and glorify our Heavenly Father!
Seeing their devotion to our LORD was so encouraging! To see them walk away from what they once thought was right because they were seeing that those mindsets weren't biblical, I hope I'm able to do that! I hope that when I see/hear something that makes me re-examine my mindset and the way I was taught, I pray that I will look only towards what is biblically right and base my mindset and actions upon that alone and not to simply what I've been told growing up! I'm grateful that we have such a gracious God, that draws our attention to areas in our lives that we need to work on and refine to glorify Him more.
I'm so excited to see what God is going to do!
To God be the Glory ~
