What Did You Say?

You may or may not have seen or heard yet, the story about the professor from Purdue, who made, what appears to be threatening statements of violence against women who fall on the pro-life side of the abortion argument.

Whether his statements are sarcastic or not remains to be seen as an investigation into his remarks has begun, but one can't help wonder what's in his heart as his mouth speaks.

Upon reading about this the other day, it got me thinking about how we engage community.

Most don't present their beliefs and share their faith in hopes of stirring up conflict and causing problems. For those who oppose, I don't think they hope to stir up problems, either. For the most part, at least.

It does seem that most people who "preach" the importance of practicing tolerance, seem to forget how to do so when someone makes statements from a position of faith and spirituality.

Be that as it may, as much as we should consider our statements of faith and positions on the issues that face our world today, we should also commit to prayer the hearts of those who will see and hear us.

The truth is hard to hear, hard to accept and often difficult to respond appropriately. On occasion, it's difficult to share in the first place.

I can't fathom, how much more important it is, that we cover our communication between the church and the community in prayer. So, let us begin here.

Pray, this #communitySaturday, that the church would effectively communicate the truth... of our faith in God, the transforming power of Jesus Christ and the relevancy of Scripture to our daily lives. Pray for the hearer... may the hearts be ready to receive, not the words of man, but what God would desire to work in their lives. May the love, grace, compassion, forgiveness and conviction of God's word supersede our feeble attempts to be politically correct, tolerant and all avoidance of being offensive.

We can not share the love of God  to one person on our own strength any more than we can live a single moment without God's provision of air. For at one time, every person will be a Hearer of the Word. May many more become Doers.

By the grace and for the glory of God.

- PNC