This Chick...Filet of Christ!

WOW! I am so impressed at the showing in support of Chick Fil A yesterday in the United States! I read so many reports of the large crowds of supporters and the small showing of protestors...it was all over the internet. I wasn't there. I couldn't go, even though I am in agreement with Cathay's statements and support his business as often as I can. If you went, this blog is no condemnation towards you...this is what my response was to this latest drama. As I shared in my last posting, this past year has been a year of a many-faceted changing of things I believed and followed. Not a changing of my Savior and my Father, but a changing from being a works driven and people-pleaser to a love and grace giving, God-pleasing warrior! Years ago as I was in a church meeting listening to a representative of the local Crisis Pregnancy Center share their vision and purpose, Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "There is something worse than the abortions that happen to these little ones". I was shocked and asked Him two more times what He said and I received the same words. Then, I asked Him to explain what He was saying so I could truly undertand. He replied that when these "little ones" lives are ended, they are immediately in His presence fully formed and fully grown to live out His purposes for all Eternity. Those that committed and submitted to those lives ending will spend that same Eternity without Him if they are never shown the gift of love and forgiveness of His heart towards them and are unable to believe it because of the lack of those same gifts in believers. Eternity with Him or Eternity without Him! Which is greater? He was not condoning abortion in any form, but was showing me His heart of love and compassion for those we (the Church) were condemning. I feel the same way about the same-sex marriage issue and any other issue that causes us to become bile erupting volcanoes instead of love erupting light! Yes, those are sin and sin is bad, but so is gossip a sin and gluttoney a sin (as well as a whole list of other things) and those sins are church embraced and often, church driven. What is really going on here? We are in a BATTLE! Not a battle against homosexuality, abortion or same-sex marriage, but a battle against the Church being the Light & Salt we are called to be! The enemy of our souls has devised a pretty slick plan to keep us out of the true battle. He gets us whipped up over something about our "rights" and others' "wrongs" till we're too whipped, too defeated, too angry and too judgmental to fight like the soldiers we're called to be. II Corinthians 10:4-6 tells us that our weapons of warfare are different than the world's and yet, we continue to fight the world's way. No wonder we haven't won very many battles! Can you think of any we've (the Righteous) won by battling as the world does? I remember the condemnation that arose over the church in America when Madeline Murray O'Hare was able to get prayer removed from public schools - the church hadn't done enough...and America has continued it's downward slide in spite of all of our boycotting and placards and Christian broadcasting! What's the answer then to a world of choas, sin and darkness if we don't fight the same way as the world system? Our God, The God of the Angel Armies, gave us His battle plan in II Chronicles 7:14. "If My people (we, the Church), who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from THEIR wicked ways, THEN will I hear from heaven and will forgive THEIR sin and heal their LAND." How effective of the enemy to convince us that prayer really doesn't change much and it certainly isn't quick enough, so let's fight his way and keep loosing battles. It makes us feel godly that we supported a "good" business and boycotted a "bad" one...after all, we are followers of Christ! Followers? Then let's start following! He ate with sinners, went to their homes, touched the unclean and loved the unloveable...are we truly followers just because we bear His name? He never loved the sin, but He ALWAYS loved the sinner! The only people he took issue with and chastised, were the religious ones who had a form of godliness, but no intimacy with Him. I know this is long and I know effectual, fervent prayer requires more of us than fighting the way we have been, but we were told that we have to die in order to live, we were told that God's ways are not our ways and we were told the battle plan. A filet is a generous piece of meat or fish with the bones removed, usually taken from the most tender selection of meat. We need to be choice filets of the King, tender in our love and compassion with all the dry bones removed so the meat we offer is desired by the ones in this world who are dying for lack of food!!! Think on these things...