For the last week I have been reading Hosea. As of today I started reading Joel. Man, that is some hard-nosed stuff. If God gave them something to tell the people, they told it in no uncertain terms. I find myself reading these prophecies with a critical view of the world. I mean those prophecies would apply today to our country and, for that matter, to many of our churches. However, the thought I had today was that I should not just look at our country and our churches when reading this; I should take a look at myself as well. This is not just a problem with me, it is a widespread problem.We say the problem is "them." No. The problem is "us." Thinking critically of our own choices and our own issues just does not seem to occur to us. For example, I wish that people who are involved in church squabbles would stop and ask themselves, "Could I possibly be Mistaken, or could there possibly be some kind of compromise that we could make to solve this issue?" It never seems to occur to us that we might be part of the problem, and that is why it is so difficult to find a solution. As long "we" are right and "they" are wrong, there is no solution.
One of the best things that I have done over my years in the ministry, was to change my sermon one Sunday and tell the church what I thought I was doing that was not helping the church. We were going through a tough time, there was lot of negativity. I just stood and confessed my faults to the whole congregation. This made a difference in our church and was the beginning of a new spirit. Please don't accuse me of bragging on what I did. It was not easy, but the Lord led me to take a look at myself. I know that I wasn't the only problem in the church, but I realized that I was part of the problem. We need to be honest with ourselves, and when we are,a lot personal, family, church, business, etc. problems will be solved. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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