Hello everyone, I hope you had a great day or are having a good one. Mine was great praise God.
So today's topic is based on a sermon of Pastor Cornelius Lindsey about "giving" that i watched back in April(you can find it on my facebook page) it was so much eye opening for me. Sometimes we, as Christians, are cought up in laws, rituals and traditions that have nothing to do with the word of God invented by some so-called men of God.
It reminded me of when I first got here in north-America as I already said I wasn't really saved, I didn't know much about the word of God, I read my bible every now and then, I didn't know how important it is to know God for myself, to know his word for myself. I thought if I just listen to what the pastor says on Sundays I'm good, I don't need to go deep into the word. Whenever I had questions instead of opening my bible and pray about it the first thing I was doing was to ask the people who were in church for longer than me because I thought :"If they are here that long they are certainly better "christian" than me" Which actually is far from the truth.
So one day, I asked somebody about "giving" I was new in the church and I wanted to know how things worked in that church because the currency was different and I was a bit confused. So I asked how tithing and offering worked there . And I was told that I should give the tenth of all my income(tithe) plus my offering and that I should not give less than a certain amount of money. So whenever I did not have that bill or more in my purse I didn't give because I thought it would be a shame to give less than what i was told as if everybody would see it and laugh at me or as if God would be insulted by my offering. See how bound I was by some foolishness that I thought was the truth? What scripture says the amount of money that has to be given? Where did that come from? I don't blame the person who told me that because maybe that person didn't know better.
But I blame myself for believing such a lie for so long and for spreading that lie because who ever asked me got the same answer from me. Hosea 4:6 says: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge". This is the sad truth. We rely on what people say to guide our lives instead of relying on God and his word. It's like we have more faith in people than God.
Speaking of having more faith in men than God, let's ask ourselves these questions. When we have some issues in our lives, what is the first thing we do? Do we pray about it first to have God's instructions or do we tell our pastor/spiritual leader? When we have to make important decisions in our lives do we tell God or the pastor first? My intention is not to discourage people to trust their pastors/spiritual leaders , but although their advices and blessings are important, we have to be careful not to make them our idols. Because if we run to them before running to God, then something is definitely wrong. It may be time to review our priorities.
God is God and will always be God, He is the same, he doesn't change, but men can change depending on the circumstances. So we better choose God.
By the way, there is also another thing that has been on my mind for quite sometime. As christian when we are talking to other people outside our local church or new members I hear people say:"Well, at our church we dress this way, we are not allowed to do this and that,,.." And it's like a competition for which church is better than the other(I fell in that trap too, i know). I have also seen some churches who tell people that their are not welcome in the building if they dress a certain way or look a certain way. That particularly chocked me. Since when does salvation require to look a certain way? Are people supposed to be perfect to be admitted in a church? who told these men they own the church? What happened to the church of Christ, The one He shed blood for? Did Jesus die on the cross for perfect people or for sinners?
Well, i'm just going to leave it here. This would Probably make a whole other blog. So people don't be fooled, be careful.
In conlusion, every time we hear a sermon, a prophesy, or somebody tells you that God told him/her something about you or if you want to get an advice, the first thing to do is pray about it, then check whether what they say agrees with the word of God or not because that person you listen to may be misleading you. Thessalonian 5:21-22 says: 21but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. 22. Stay away from every kind of evil. So make sure you test everything you hear no matter who says it.
Have a nice day, God is good always.
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