Posted by kat on June 07, 2003 at 13:38:53:
In Reply to: yeah, got ya posted by giveawayboy on June 06, 2003 at 12:53:51:
: PS: I am sick of those who tacitly imply their holiness by preaching lordship without disclosure of their own struggles -- and gratuitous general acquiescence to all people being sinners doesn't qualify as disclosure!
: GAB: Hello!
: PS: All these cautions duly noted, we SHOULD constantly be striving to make Jesus the Lord of our lives, especially in areas where we have not yet really trusted or obeyed Him. I am only questioning the motivational techniques of some of the lordship salvationists who don't seem honest or genuinely human to me. I think they are often subconsciously preaching to themselves, because they cannot admit how displeased they are with their own unfaithfulness.
: GAB: Double Hello! I agree. Some people have been hurt by campaigns of shame and fear, but the response of many to this has been a cry of 'church abuse' accompanied by an advance of cushy permissiveness. I like the fact that we can abandon the shame and fear model yet still insist that there is a Lord and Master, and that we are servants. Only we can begin to see this Master/servant role as a loving, kind, gentle leading and not merely a bombastic threatening kind of lordship. We serve a loving, kind yet often challenging Lord. And, although he is kind he is not always convenient or concerned with pleasure.
I think we need to be aware of the joy of living in obedience. This is the idea i came away with more than anything.
On a day to day basis, I think I am living in obedience but the minute I feel God asking me something that is a stretch for me I am saying to him, "You know Lord, I think I am going to handle this my way, right now."
When I do this I am only missing out on the blessing of obedience.
Living in obedience every minute is not something any Christian has mastered completely. It's the desire to live in obedience that comes from a desire for Him more than anything else, that will ultimately get us closer to this goal.
-kat