I read this statement recently. “It is hard to be upright without being uptight.” I have found that over the years there are people who do not think the same way as I think about how to live a Christian life. They seem uptight about everything. Oh they say they are not uptight, but everything–is a thing. They have issues with the way I preach or the way I handle a situation, and even the way I wear my hair. On my face that is. The top part took care of itself. I often wonder, if I could see into their secret life, would they be as holy as they think they are, or are they just as flawed as the rest of us.
It is like the person who approached me recently and told me that their child was reamed out by another well meaning person over how the child conducted themselves. Then that person turned around and stated a position that offended the first child. It seems that all of us have various levels of tolerance for how others conduct their affairs. I have experienced this over the years and the result is the same. Division. We divide over the songs we sing. We divide over the translation we use. We divide over the clothes we choose to wear. We divide over the length of service time. We divide over the programs we run or the lack thereof.
All the while our Lord and Savior tells us in John 17:23 that He wants us to be in complete unity so the world will believe that Jesus was sent by God because He so loved them. My prayer for the new year is that we find a way to keep our opinions to ourselves and that we suffer our differences in silence. I pray that we tell God on them and let Him take care of them. (Whoever them is). I know one thing for sure and that is at any given moment I might be them. I would hope that as Christians we would give to each other the same grace that we expect from one another. I believe I read that somewhere in the Bible. It goes like this. Whatever you would have men do unto you do unto them. There the them is. I hope and pray that in 2010 we can all be a little less uptight and more upright. pastor Steve