Words of Wisdom Wednesday ~ (Matt Chandler)

"Regardless of your situation, you have not been abandoned. There are no secrets... God knows every detail of your life. And He has not abandoned you."

"Christ lived in a physical body in a physical world... His family thought He was crazy. Anybody got family strife? Jesus understands family strife! The Bible says that Jesus wept at the death of His friend. Have you lost a friend? Jesus was lied about, betrayed by a close friend. He physically suffered. The Bible says that we have an empathetic High Priest. Not only have you not been abandoned, but our God understands you. He put on flesh and dwelt among us. We have an empathetic High Priest who is compassionate toward our losses, toward our sorrows, toward our pain!"

"We are not yet what we will be. We are all in process, in various stages of fruitfulness... And if that's true - if I'm not there yet and you're not there yet and other people are not there yet, doesn't that make sense that there will be conflict that needs to be worked out? And shouldn't that make us all the more gracious toward one another? ...It is a good, godly discipline for you to watch your mind concerning other Christians. If you are meditating on their weaknesses, you are sinning against God and you are sinning against them. It is an evil thing for you to be an expert in the weaknesses of your brothers and sisters. The discipline God has called us to is to be an expert in the strengths of our brothers and sisters, especially those who get on our last nerve. It becomes hard to disdain the one you can see the work of God in.... And think about it: how frustrating would it be for you to know that someone out there is just meditating on your weaknesses? No awareness of what you do well, no awareness of how you sacrifice, how you serve, what you long for and desire. There is no thought of that at all; just meditating on your weaknesses. That's wicked; it's evil. And there is no place for that in the household of faith."

"In group life and community life, you'll be surprised at how often it is your weaknesses that encourage and stir up faith in your brothers and sisters. Push past the veneer and counsel one another not just with our strengths but with our weaknesses."
~Matt Chandler, The Village Church