Post by grandpaskitzo on Jan 6, 2018 14:33:08 GMT -6
# Brotherly Love and Accountability
#Bible/accountability
This is a two part event that paints a larger picture.
Part 1
Not too long ago I had gotten caught up in some old sin that I’ve always struggled with, and reliably got bit in the butt. Old habits die hard, but they do die, at least through Christ that is.
About a year or so ago I had taken up dealing marijuana. I was using it myself, and justified selling it to others to make sure I wasn’t going into debt / using money I shouldn’t have. Haha, that was a bold faced lie, and I knew it. I’m very stubborn with some things and I hate it. Somehow, as expected, that was the opposite of what happened. The usage always exceeded the profits in my case. I’ve always struggled with addiction (narcotics), and so this wasn’t anything new to me; same problem, different substance. I’ve since quit and never will go back to any of those things. God’s Fire has refined me since then and keeps me pure anymore, so this post isn’t about that. This is just a slight background to what I’m about to put forth. And yes, I’ve learned a great deal since then and seen the impact every choice has had on every person around me and the way I conducted my life. I’m so thankful to have that idol out of my life. My addiction issue is finally coming to a close after almost 10 years. Praise God! Stay off drugs kids!
Back to the point.
During this time, I had begun to sell to my fiancé’s brother. My supply came from her cousin too. Oh man this family needs some help. That’s but a drop in the bucket of the many issues that run rampant here. Anyway, I sold to my fiancé’s brother, who is also a firm believer in Christ, but neglects to see the error of this way, and sadly not by my help due to my involvement. His wife doesn’t use, but she also, for the most part, doesn’t really see a problem with it, although she does have her worries being that they have two kids and another one on the way. The cousin who supplies, has a rather unsafe environment and that’s one of her concerns, other drugs, weapons galore, mentally unstable friends, etc. It’s not good. And yet, I felt just fine walking into this cesspool just to satisfy my flesh. /I make me sick sometimes./ My fiancé knew nothing of my dealings or useage, she had thought that part of my life was in the past.
Here’s where things get interesting....well, more interesting.
1. First thing that happened is that my fiancé’s brother decides that I NEED to tell her because it’s something she doesn’t like and has no idea I’m doing. We’ve talked a few times and I’ve told him I’m working on getting to that point. It was a struggle for me, he knew it. Well, one night I’m with her brother at his house and we smoke together, and then a few days later he decides to bring it up in ‘casual’ conversation to her that I participated with him. /He’s kinda manipulative in certain ways and then plays naive. He had good intentions but the method was not at all alright./ Needless to say I was pretty irritated, ok, quite angry. Not only because I was ousted by someone I could trust (on the irony), but because I had told him I was going to tell her myself. I was, but I had no idea how long it was going to be. In reality, I probably never would have, I was lying to myself. I didn’t talk to him for quite some time except menial conversation.
2. I continued to use and sell, but this time I kept him in the dark too. My fiancé was ‘ok’ with me using, but not at all with selling. She still didn’t know this part. After much personal struggle I convinced myself to stop selling. I was only using at this point. Unfortunately I still owed my dealer (her cousin) about $500, and found myself in a hole that I couldn’t pay back. I kept this under wraps and was working a way to make it happen. I never mentioned to her brother that I was done selling, so for all he knew is that I was. One day, him and his wife decide they couldn’t handle the burden of knowing I wasn’t coming clean to my fiancé about it and took matters into their own hands. They NEVER consulted me about it and gave me the option to tell her, but decided to go ahead and tell her for me. They thought that’s what was best....it wasn’t. They caused a lot more problems and hurt. My fiancé and I worked through it and became closer from it, but much damage was done for our relationship and theirs. I was even more angry with them and talked even less this time.
Here’s where the second situation comes into play. I’ll get back to this one after, as they tie together and create the larger picture.
Part 2
I have a friend from way back, almost 18 years now, and since have practically lost him as a friend. I really don’t consider him a friend anymore due to this and other situations. We never were super close, but I could’ve swore after 18 years we had a better friendship than this and a better understanding of being brothers in Christ. /I now see how few actually have the love of Christ in them and why God says He’ll spew the lukewarm out of His mouth, and why He’s going to tell so many to depart from Him. Men’s hearts have grown cold, and the coldest ones are those within the churches./
This situation with him happened between three separate occasions.
1. One night this friend came over to my house for a game night and a very simple thing happened. Him and a friend were talking about a show that they watch, one of which I recently watched and enjoyed the same as them, until a certain episode decided to absolutely blaspheme and mock the gospel of Christ. It was a raunchy show anyway, so I’m glad that it made it easy to walk away from. He asked me a question about the show and I simply responded that I don’t watch it anymore. I explained why, that it mocks my God and I don’t appreciate that nor think we should have anything to do with it. He brushed off what I said and stated that he still finds it funny and is going to watch it anyway. /I was flabbergasted!/
— A little backstory to this: A few weeks prior, this same friend was preaching at a church on what we put into ourselves manifests itself in our life and is what others see as a witness of our belief and our God. Not something I would expect someone who just stated what they did to preach on. Again. /I was flabbergasted!/ How could he preach these things then scoff when confronted with that same thing? I was at a loss for words.
2. The second situation was again at my house on a game night about 2 weeks later. I had made coffee for everyone and they all were really enjoying it, so naturally he comments and asks what brand it is. I responded ‘Starbucks Sumatra blend. (One of my favorites) His immediate response was that him and his wife do not support or buy Starbucks coffee anymore because the CEO/owner is actively against Christians. (I’ve seen them buy Starbucks coffee many times, even after this fiasco.) This comment didn’t hit me until about a day later when I was talking with The Lord. God revealed to me and had me question this. My friend won’t buy coffee from a company that is against Christians / the believer, but will gladly support a company that is actively against the God we believe. What?! That makes zero sense. I couldn’t wrap my head around that. God told me ‘pride’. It’s all about the self and not about Him. My friend was more focused on himself or others than on God. He’s a great person and does a lot of kingdom minded things, but his focus is not on God. This hurt to know and was quite revealing to myself on how we live our lives.
Again, I was reminded of Matthew 7:22 KJVS
[22] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? [23] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
3. With this new understanding of my friend and where His heart is, I had to say something. I couldn’t let him live in error unknowingly. I prayed on this for months because I did not want to say anything, but I knew he had to hear it. I sought council from many godly people and each one encouraged me to bring this up to him. I did not want to fail him or God. I even had a friend who had recently lost his wife to divorce because nobody in his life would stand up for godliness. He was my biggest encouragement. And so, I pressed on and did just that.
4. I gave a message to my friend in private pouring my heart out and exposing the corruption in his life. He did not like it at all! In fact, he never responded to me. He ignored me completely and his wife took over by attacking my fiancé. (They work together) She added things that were never said and accused both of us of being extremely judgmental and so much more. When we asked to talk in person and explain things and bring restoration, they absolutely refused and didn’t even give us a chance. They treated us like the enemy. The icing on the cake was when my friend decided to finally man up and respond to me....except it wasn’t manly or godly at all. He simply stated that he has no problem hanging out and having fun, but that he wants nothing to do with hearing me out or confronting the issue. He wanted to completely ignore it and move on. He stated that it would only turn to arguing. He NEVER gave me a chance! So how could he say that? That’s where I decided our friendship isn’t worth it. He just wants the fun and none of the deep meaningful parts of a relationship. Now I partially knew how God felt with His so called followers. They want the fun and good parts, but none of the actual relationship.
I could expound more on these situations but the foundation is there to layout the lessons learned. There’s so many little nuanced things that happened its innumerable. God taught me more in these situations than I could count.
1. The first story that happened I was so focused on the method in which my sin was exposed I completely ignored what had even happened. I was stripped of sin and made whole. My relationship with my fiancé was strengthened and bond with her brother was molded. I’ve since talked with him about and we’ve grown closer because of it. It wasn’t until my friend’s situation that I realized that. God works wonderfully and fearfully. He truly is a marvel in all His ways. We just have to humble ourselves and open ourselves to His correction and His process of breaking our walls and building us up.
2. My friend has lost out on a wonderful gift, but I’m confident that His lesson will be learned in the near future somehow. As for now, I must take from that and know what it is God is really looking for with our relationship with Him. He wants people who hold Him higher than ourselves or anything of this world. He wants people to be not afraid to lay down their lives or anything less for Him and His ways. We must glorify Him in everything no matter the cost! Please God, not people. This life is not our own, and this life is nothing compared to what will be.
3. We must humble ourselves when being held accountable as to to not harden our hearts and fall back into sin. It’s a hard thing to do, but each time only makes it easier. And each time we don’t, makes our hearts harder and harder to accept the truth. It’s the process of sanctification, get used to it.
Proverbs 27:5-6 KJVS
[5] Open rebuke is better than secret love. [6] Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
My fingers are gettin tired for now, but I’ll come back later and add scripture to this and possibly more lessons. There’s much I can divulge from this!
God bless. Hope this helps open somebody’s eyes to things in their own life that need confronted or dealt with.
#Bible/accountability
This is a two part event that paints a larger picture.
Part 1
Not too long ago I had gotten caught up in some old sin that I’ve always struggled with, and reliably got bit in the butt. Old habits die hard, but they do die, at least through Christ that is.
About a year or so ago I had taken up dealing marijuana. I was using it myself, and justified selling it to others to make sure I wasn’t going into debt / using money I shouldn’t have. Haha, that was a bold faced lie, and I knew it. I’m very stubborn with some things and I hate it. Somehow, as expected, that was the opposite of what happened. The usage always exceeded the profits in my case. I’ve always struggled with addiction (narcotics), and so this wasn’t anything new to me; same problem, different substance. I’ve since quit and never will go back to any of those things. God’s Fire has refined me since then and keeps me pure anymore, so this post isn’t about that. This is just a slight background to what I’m about to put forth. And yes, I’ve learned a great deal since then and seen the impact every choice has had on every person around me and the way I conducted my life. I’m so thankful to have that idol out of my life. My addiction issue is finally coming to a close after almost 10 years. Praise God! Stay off drugs kids!
Back to the point.
During this time, I had begun to sell to my fiancé’s brother. My supply came from her cousin too. Oh man this family needs some help. That’s but a drop in the bucket of the many issues that run rampant here. Anyway, I sold to my fiancé’s brother, who is also a firm believer in Christ, but neglects to see the error of this way, and sadly not by my help due to my involvement. His wife doesn’t use, but she also, for the most part, doesn’t really see a problem with it, although she does have her worries being that they have two kids and another one on the way. The cousin who supplies, has a rather unsafe environment and that’s one of her concerns, other drugs, weapons galore, mentally unstable friends, etc. It’s not good. And yet, I felt just fine walking into this cesspool just to satisfy my flesh. /I make me sick sometimes./ My fiancé knew nothing of my dealings or useage, she had thought that part of my life was in the past.
Here’s where things get interesting....well, more interesting.
1. First thing that happened is that my fiancé’s brother decides that I NEED to tell her because it’s something she doesn’t like and has no idea I’m doing. We’ve talked a few times and I’ve told him I’m working on getting to that point. It was a struggle for me, he knew it. Well, one night I’m with her brother at his house and we smoke together, and then a few days later he decides to bring it up in ‘casual’ conversation to her that I participated with him. /He’s kinda manipulative in certain ways and then plays naive. He had good intentions but the method was not at all alright./ Needless to say I was pretty irritated, ok, quite angry. Not only because I was ousted by someone I could trust (on the irony), but because I had told him I was going to tell her myself. I was, but I had no idea how long it was going to be. In reality, I probably never would have, I was lying to myself. I didn’t talk to him for quite some time except menial conversation.
2. I continued to use and sell, but this time I kept him in the dark too. My fiancé was ‘ok’ with me using, but not at all with selling. She still didn’t know this part. After much personal struggle I convinced myself to stop selling. I was only using at this point. Unfortunately I still owed my dealer (her cousin) about $500, and found myself in a hole that I couldn’t pay back. I kept this under wraps and was working a way to make it happen. I never mentioned to her brother that I was done selling, so for all he knew is that I was. One day, him and his wife decide they couldn’t handle the burden of knowing I wasn’t coming clean to my fiancé about it and took matters into their own hands. They NEVER consulted me about it and gave me the option to tell her, but decided to go ahead and tell her for me. They thought that’s what was best....it wasn’t. They caused a lot more problems and hurt. My fiancé and I worked through it and became closer from it, but much damage was done for our relationship and theirs. I was even more angry with them and talked even less this time.
Here’s where the second situation comes into play. I’ll get back to this one after, as they tie together and create the larger picture.
Part 2
I have a friend from way back, almost 18 years now, and since have practically lost him as a friend. I really don’t consider him a friend anymore due to this and other situations. We never were super close, but I could’ve swore after 18 years we had a better friendship than this and a better understanding of being brothers in Christ. /I now see how few actually have the love of Christ in them and why God says He’ll spew the lukewarm out of His mouth, and why He’s going to tell so many to depart from Him. Men’s hearts have grown cold, and the coldest ones are those within the churches./
This situation with him happened between three separate occasions.
1. One night this friend came over to my house for a game night and a very simple thing happened. Him and a friend were talking about a show that they watch, one of which I recently watched and enjoyed the same as them, until a certain episode decided to absolutely blaspheme and mock the gospel of Christ. It was a raunchy show anyway, so I’m glad that it made it easy to walk away from. He asked me a question about the show and I simply responded that I don’t watch it anymore. I explained why, that it mocks my God and I don’t appreciate that nor think we should have anything to do with it. He brushed off what I said and stated that he still finds it funny and is going to watch it anyway. /I was flabbergasted!/
— A little backstory to this: A few weeks prior, this same friend was preaching at a church on what we put into ourselves manifests itself in our life and is what others see as a witness of our belief and our God. Not something I would expect someone who just stated what they did to preach on. Again. /I was flabbergasted!/ How could he preach these things then scoff when confronted with that same thing? I was at a loss for words.
2. The second situation was again at my house on a game night about 2 weeks later. I had made coffee for everyone and they all were really enjoying it, so naturally he comments and asks what brand it is. I responded ‘Starbucks Sumatra blend. (One of my favorites) His immediate response was that him and his wife do not support or buy Starbucks coffee anymore because the CEO/owner is actively against Christians. (I’ve seen them buy Starbucks coffee many times, even after this fiasco.) This comment didn’t hit me until about a day later when I was talking with The Lord. God revealed to me and had me question this. My friend won’t buy coffee from a company that is against Christians / the believer, but will gladly support a company that is actively against the God we believe. What?! That makes zero sense. I couldn’t wrap my head around that. God told me ‘pride’. It’s all about the self and not about Him. My friend was more focused on himself or others than on God. He’s a great person and does a lot of kingdom minded things, but his focus is not on God. This hurt to know and was quite revealing to myself on how we live our lives.
Again, I was reminded of Matthew 7:22 KJVS
[22] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? [23] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
3. With this new understanding of my friend and where His heart is, I had to say something. I couldn’t let him live in error unknowingly. I prayed on this for months because I did not want to say anything, but I knew he had to hear it. I sought council from many godly people and each one encouraged me to bring this up to him. I did not want to fail him or God. I even had a friend who had recently lost his wife to divorce because nobody in his life would stand up for godliness. He was my biggest encouragement. And so, I pressed on and did just that.
4. I gave a message to my friend in private pouring my heart out and exposing the corruption in his life. He did not like it at all! In fact, he never responded to me. He ignored me completely and his wife took over by attacking my fiancé. (They work together) She added things that were never said and accused both of us of being extremely judgmental and so much more. When we asked to talk in person and explain things and bring restoration, they absolutely refused and didn’t even give us a chance. They treated us like the enemy. The icing on the cake was when my friend decided to finally man up and respond to me....except it wasn’t manly or godly at all. He simply stated that he has no problem hanging out and having fun, but that he wants nothing to do with hearing me out or confronting the issue. He wanted to completely ignore it and move on. He stated that it would only turn to arguing. He NEVER gave me a chance! So how could he say that? That’s where I decided our friendship isn’t worth it. He just wants the fun and none of the deep meaningful parts of a relationship. Now I partially knew how God felt with His so called followers. They want the fun and good parts, but none of the actual relationship.
I could expound more on these situations but the foundation is there to layout the lessons learned. There’s so many little nuanced things that happened its innumerable. God taught me more in these situations than I could count.
1. The first story that happened I was so focused on the method in which my sin was exposed I completely ignored what had even happened. I was stripped of sin and made whole. My relationship with my fiancé was strengthened and bond with her brother was molded. I’ve since talked with him about and we’ve grown closer because of it. It wasn’t until my friend’s situation that I realized that. God works wonderfully and fearfully. He truly is a marvel in all His ways. We just have to humble ourselves and open ourselves to His correction and His process of breaking our walls and building us up.
2. My friend has lost out on a wonderful gift, but I’m confident that His lesson will be learned in the near future somehow. As for now, I must take from that and know what it is God is really looking for with our relationship with Him. He wants people who hold Him higher than ourselves or anything of this world. He wants people to be not afraid to lay down their lives or anything less for Him and His ways. We must glorify Him in everything no matter the cost! Please God, not people. This life is not our own, and this life is nothing compared to what will be.
3. We must humble ourselves when being held accountable as to to not harden our hearts and fall back into sin. It’s a hard thing to do, but each time only makes it easier. And each time we don’t, makes our hearts harder and harder to accept the truth. It’s the process of sanctification, get used to it.
Proverbs 27:5-6 KJVS
[5] Open rebuke is better than secret love. [6] Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
My fingers are gettin tired for now, but I’ll come back later and add scripture to this and possibly more lessons. There’s much I can divulge from this!
God bless. Hope this helps open somebody’s eyes to things in their own life that need confronted or dealt with.
