Convicted

I'm talking about convicted in the sense of having been sufficiently impressed with the guilt of my own bad behavior.
Don't you just hate it when your Bible reading takes to a passage that points out your own poor behavior. Man, I really hate that.

Today I am reminded that dealing with the poor behavior of others is no excuse for our own poor behavior. We are called to be better than that; to deal with poor behavior with grace. We are to be representatives of Jesus; Ambassadors of the Cross. We are not called on to tolerate or condone bad behaviors, but neither are we to be hateful or hurtful in our calling it to the attentions of those that are the offending persons.

One of the things that has brought these convicting thoughts to mind is the invitation to preach at our Celebrate 125 event at Hopedale on the 18th. It's difficult to preach God's Word when you haven't dealt with your own demons.

For those that might be praying people, I do solicit your intercessory prayers as I seek the wisdom and grace to become more like my Savior and less like myself. Another John once stated that he must become less while Jesus becomes more--a good attitude for this John, too. As a matter of fact, it's a pretty good attitude for any follower of Jesus.

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