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With all the uncertainly we all currently face in the world right now, I've noticed that a lot of people are being quite disrespectful toward one another and it saddens me greatly because I do not believe that this is what God expects us to be.
People seem to forget that we have a lot more in common than we want to admit -- which is a shame because God doesn't want us to destroy one another, but to love and understand each other.
What is the most important word in that phrase is "and." We need to realize that we need to have both love AND understanding.
For example, one of the things that I have dealt with growing up was people would always question my taste in music. I have always enjoyed listening to music, in fact I believe music is one of the greatest gifts that we are all ever blessed to have in our lives.
The issue has always been the kind of music I listen to. Now I enjoy listening to all kinds of music, but my main choices have always been, rock, metal and hardcore. Needless to say, it hasn't gone over so well with some of my fellow Christians.
With that being said, I do listen to a lot of the big names, like Metallica, AC/DC, etc. But ironically, there are plenty of bands I love listening to that talk about coming to Christ and have Faith in Him. Such bands like Stryper, Skillet, POD, Demon Hunter, Love and Death and so forth have really made a big different in my life and I thank God every day for it.
Some people have asked me why I listen to this and even ask if I think that is the reason that I am depressed a lot?
That is one reason I stayed away from church for a long time. But, it only strengthen my Faith with Christ. I had a conversation with my Uncle Rick one summer and he mentioned about the Four Gospels in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, John and Luke). So I went back and read all of them and what I discovered was that Jesus can relate to everything I am going through.
I read about how people came to Jesus and questioned a lot of the things that he was doing and it made me love and appreciate what He has done for me as well as all of us even more. Now is it exactly what I was going through, no. But at the same time, no one can deny the similarities.
One of the things I noticed was that Jesus answered questions with another question. He told stories like the Prodigal Son, where the youngest son throws away his fortune and returns home and is welcome back by his father while the older son was upset about the festivities.
What I love about it was how can no one not relate to all three people in the story. We all have our moments where we wanted to go and enjoy life like the younger son, but there is a time where we realize that, it isn't always what its crack up to be and we want to be forgiven.
Then there is the Father who is just thankful that the younger son is back same and sound. I do not have any children myself, but I can relate to it because there have been plenty of friends and family who had gone through a rough patch in their lives and then they come back and I'm just so thankful that they are alright.
And of course, the older son who was upset with the fact that he was always there and never got into trouble and was frustrated with how someone could just throw everything away. There have been plenty of times where I see people who have done bad things and yet seem to have all the luck and I am like. Why? You don't see me doing anything wrong and yet, I get moved over.
And that is the point I am trying to get across. Just because someone does something different, doesn't make them any less of a Christian. In 1 Peter 4:10-11 it says God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.
May God Bless every single one of you and know that He is with us every step of the way.