In The Name of The Lord

I just had breakfast with a guy named Rick at a McDonalds in Pittsburgh. Rick has been selling off his old baseball card collection to me and so I was browsing through his Sports card albums and he started to tell me about his bi-polar son. His son is almost 25 years old and is okay until he goes off his medication and then he really gets into all kinds of trouble. Phil is probably going to have to take care of him because his son cannot be left alone. Phil went on to tell me about his first marraige. That was the real story.

Rick married a woman who was deeply tied to the Pentecostal Church. Phil was Catholic but thought that his wife's faith was interesting and he admired her dedication. Trouble was on the horizon however because the Pentecostal Pastor kept visiting Rick's wife when Rick wasn't home. You already know what happened. She left Rick for this preacher who later became an alchoholic. Phil's ex-wife has called him occaisionally over the years guilt ridden but unwilling to abandon the preacher.

This stuff happens all the time and what really annoys me the most is that these failures in the church are often used as weapons against the Lord as if He allows it to happen. I know that we are all capable of losing it all over some spur of the moment passion or sin but there are too many examples of this happening. It tells me that too many of us that are believed to be christian were willing to call on Him to save us for all eternity but very few are willing to pay the price to obtain the character of Jesus. That is what Jesus meant by taking up our cross. It costs to follow Jesus. It costs us our will. It's having His character that prevents us from blowing it big time and the only way to have our character changed is by having a vital living relationship with Jesus himself. To know Him is to love Him and as a result of that relationship we become more like Him. Too much of what we do is religious activity and that will not produce Godly character. The un-churched and the churched are really not that much different when you eliminate the realtionship with Jesus.

The un-churched are living with their own moral code and those that are religious throughout the church use the name of the Lord to give the appearance of a righteous life but have no power to live that kind of life. It's just as phony as the un-churched and maybe worse and all in the name of the Lord. Don't misunderstand me. Their are countless numbers of christians in the present church that know the Lord but the institutionalized church is producing less real followers of Jesus and it is costing people plenty. Rick and his wife are just one example of what can occur. It's so sad that his wife is living a life of guilt and shame and Rick is living out the rest of his life alone and with a jaded opinion of Christianity. I believe that the Lord had me meet Rick to help bridge the gap. I look forward to meeting with him more.

Father, I fear that we don't know how much harm we are causing. I know that it must grieve you to see us behave this way. Lord help us all.

For God so Loved......