We had a good small group session last night, discussing Jacob's travails in Genesis 28-29-30. Like so many of us, Jacob grew closer to God, but it took time for him to mature. So much so like me.
After growing up in Macon, finding a place in the GT BSU was like heaven on earth, surrounded by young white middle class Christians. One mountaintop experience after another. Over those college years I did a lot of growing closer to God, spurred on by so many older, more mature Christians - many who went on to serve in the ministry. But there were others who would fall by the wayside. I'd like to think Yearwood and Freemon and Travis and Givens and others my age passed along this yearning to the younger BSUers who came along after us, to grow and be more like Jesus. Did we?
While it was much fun to hang around people just like ourselves, it wasn't at all getting us ready for the real world. We were sheltered. We thought we were spiritually superior. We considered those in fraternities to be heathens, ignorant to the fact that all the while there were Bible Studies going on in those fraternity houses down the street. They weren't hung up on Bible trivia or spiritual sanctification, but instead with how God could work to soothe a troubled young person's soul. Lives were being changed in profound ways. I've heard my brother Larry Ragan tell of such stories, as well as several other guys over the years.
After we left Tech we had to find our place in that real world, which involved developing relationships with all those real world people we managed to avoid inside the GT BSU. Finding and marrying a life partner. Having kids. Getting a job in the real world. Developing relationships with coworkers with different world views and backgrounds, and working side by side with these people 40 hours a week. Not easy. Some fared better than others. Some opted out of real jobs to avoid having to deal with other grownups. Some never moved past that spiritually superior viewpoint they had 40 years ago at the BSU.
Over the years I have tried to make it a point to continue to surround myself with more spiritually mature men. In living life with them I began to notice how they would react and respond differently to unfortunate circumstances than what I had experienced growing up. It's taken me years to change behaviors in my own life, and I certainly still have a long way to go. Bad things happen in everyone's life. The key is how you respond. Do you respond in love, or anger? Many so-called Christians fail these tests.
I Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
After twenty years at SPdL we moved on to North Point, and the preaching was great. We may have visited JFBC once, and my expert opinion was that North Pointers were spiritually superior to those at JFBC. Wrong again.
It's what I was trying to say when I listed all those men who God used to shape my life, who led and discipled me. The more I learned and knew, the more I realized there was out there that I still did not know. Quite humbling. As I move on to a new phase in life, all the more I need these wise people who are much more expert in areas I need help in. Wisdom is realizing that I don't know everything. It's like those young homeowners in the commercial who can't stop acting like their parents.
Being a Christian - following Jesus - becoming a disciple - is so much more than just hanging out with other Christians, having a good time. It's more than just talking the talk. Certainly more than trolling non-Christians on social media. Instead it is loving other people, not just the people you like, but loving everyone - even the unlovable. That doesn't mean to bow to their every unreasonable demand, but to at least to be wise in how you deal with them. Being a Christ follower means striving to be like Jesus all of the time, in every conversation and human interaction. Putting others ahead of myself.
Dan ended our small group with these wise words: "I need to keep reminding myself that God is sovereign in all I face. God doesn't need me to figure things out for Him. God just wants me to trust in Him".
Are you becoming more like Jesus - or are you turning in to a worse version of an imperfect parent?
Tuesday night: chicken soup for supper. Watched Best Medicine and Peyton's Places. Our first night in the guest bedroom, in the smaller bed. Good mattress.
Wednesday: Ceil taught school. I spent almost two hours at the gym: treadmill, sauna, and stretching.
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