I know I'm really behind on blogging again. Oops! I've had some really good studies the past two weeks. They are always painful when they apply to me, but I know that when I have shared in the past, I have had replies of how they have encouraged. So, here goes...
From the book:Everybody's Normal.... by John Ortberg
Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons other to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in ones community back from the path of sin. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Every one of us needs a few people to tell us the truth about our hearts and souls. We all have weak spots and blind spots that we cannot navigate on our own.
...decisions alone are not enough. We need to go public with them. We need accountability.
...for people to think that they can live up to their best intentions on their own is a recipe for disaster.
..knowing you can never become the person you want to be without help.
Nathan has to find a way to get past all David's defenses and hardness of heart. He wants to capture David's heart; to maximize the odds of David's opening his hear to the truth.
In authentic community each person is responsible for one's own life.
Accountability is a tool and a gift we give to one another to realize the growth we could never know all by ourselves.
It takes enormous courage to be a Truth-Teller. If we speak painful truth to someone, things get messy.
We usually tell the truth until it's costly, and then we trade truth for peace.
Marriages can last for decades- sometimes for a lifetime- and- look quite pleasant from the outside. Not much conflict, not many storms. But the reality is that the husband and wife are living in pseudo-community. They are disappointed in their marriage and each other, but neither has the guts to speak frankly and honestly. So every day they die a little more. To go beyond pseudo-community, we have to be willing to enter into chaos. Chaos happens when someone is willing to speak risky truth.
People who love authentic community always prefer the pain of temporary chaos to the peace of permanent superficiality.
Telling people what they want to hear is not love.
We generally don't intend to make a mess of our lives. When we have nobody to answer to- no one holding us accountable for living up to the values we most deeply hold- we become very vulnerable.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is not deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord." And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 32:1-5
Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. Micah 7:18
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