Tag: Spirit

Is Projecting Constructive or Destructive?

What is projection? Projection is when we take a behavior and transfer it over to another situation. There are several applications to projection. For instance, if we have a low self image because of our weight, height, or intellect, etc., we might find someone we deem inferior to us and then put them down in an effort to make ourselves feel better. While this may sound like a negative way to boost self image, people do it every day. Gossip is a form of putting others down. How does bullying start? Because one person feels inferior to another for some reason. Perhaps they were made fun of by their peers, siblings, or sadly, their parents. Instead of being the victim, they later victimize others.

Another form of projection is to think that others should take up the same causes that you have. If you’re all for sheep eating green grass, then everyone else should be, right? If you believe that the version of Bible you read or your church is the right one, then everyone else should also, right? That’s a projection of arrogance and superiority. That line of thinking says that you are the only one who thinks correctly and promotes you as perfect. Others perceive you to be haughty and overbearing and you don’t understand why they don’t see things your way. Sound familiar? I’ve been there before. On some issues, I still am, but I try to be open-minded, while still staying grounded in the Word, led by the Holy Spirit. That is the crux of life as a Christian. It is who Jesus Christ left us, the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. But are we truly listening? Are we being guided? Did we hear the Holy Spirit tell us to argue with others? Let’s see, the Holy Spirit’s character is to comfort, to bring forth truth, to establish peace. No, I don’t think the Holy Spirit ever told me to argue with a friend or family member.

Then one of the ways projection hurts Christianity the most is by those who project their own mindset, their own thoughts, or the actions of others towards them on God and on Christians in general. Because, somewhere, someone professing to be a Christian hurt them and they decided ‘how could Christianity be real? How could God be real? How could God love me if I have these thoughts? How can I trust another ‘Christian?’ How can I trust another church?’ Well, here’s my answer, 1. God did NOT cause any bad things to happen to you! He didn’t give you or anyone else bad thoughts! God is LOVE! He Loved you so much, and everyone else in this world, that he gave up his own son to die and brought him back to life. You may say, ‘Well he knew he was going to bring him back.’ Oh? Why? Because he’s God? So then you Do Believe in God? Because everything within us cries out for our creator and if we nearly die, we cry out to him. Don’t let a near death experience test you to find out. Get off the fence and follow his Son, who was a perfect example of a human being and perfect love. 2. Mankind will fail. There’s not a single person out there who’s not going to disappoint you at some point. There are few, very few Christians who lead a life sold out completely to follow Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to lead them. Everyone has a weakness they won’t relinquish control over. 3. As far as thinking others think like you, there are some people who are not out to hurt you and who have very pure motives. If you’re tuned into the Holy Spirit, you’ll know which ones are pure and who to avoid.

There’s another area of projection I’ve seen Christians do in their walk, that thwarts their spiritual growth. Some Christians may think another believer has more spiritual knowledge than they do, so they belittle the one they deem beyond them. Or perhaps they’re afraid to move forward with God, to take the next step, so they criticize everything another believer says or believes, putting down their church or doctrine.

Jesus wasn’t looking for a set of rules, he came to free us from the law! He wasn’t here to participate in sacraments, traditions or even a church, nor a building, he was looking for true worshippers, whose lives were lived by example, those who would follow him. He wanted those who were led by the Holy Spirit, doing the Father’s will. His “church” was/is not bound by walls, or certain days. If we project anything as Christians, May it be the love of Jesus Christ, faithfulness, gentleness, self- control, grace, compassion, patience, peace, comfort, and joy.

John 4:23-24 But the time is coming-indeed it’s here now-when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

Hebrews 8:1-2 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

Relationship or Religion

As Christians we are supposed to spread the gospel, not point out the sins and errors of others. What is the gospel? It is the good news, the hope for a better life, the positive things that make others want to become Christians. No, we aren’t selling anything, but Yes, we are promoting a better way of life. We aren’t selling religion or promulgating a false utopia. We are sharing what it means to live in perfect love and perfect peace, a way of life that transcends a life without Christ and the Holy Spirit. Life in Christ is a better life, when submitted to the Holy Spirit, it brings about peace and love. We cannot attain it through religion or any achievement that we do. It is a free gift given to us by God. Religion should not be our identity. Our identity should come from Christ. When someone asks if we are Christians, our answer should not be we are this or that brand of religion, because that is not Christ-centered. If that comes first, we’re putting more emphasis on the religion than on our walk with Jesus, because religion doesn’t have the ability to transform, but the Holy Spirit does.

I’m not against religion, don’t get me wrong, but I am against putting religion before God. I’m also against bashing religions and those who constantly point to religions that aren’t of their choosing. I think we can learn from many different religions, but we must have a personal relationship with Jesus. When we do, then we are true Christians, not just a CINO (Christian in name only). True Christianity is led by the Spirit. When we study the scriptures, the Spirit reveals to us the deeper meanings of the word. 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 & 1 John 2:6 To me it is better to live as a true Christian, than as those who are masquerading as ones. We are to live a life that points others to Jesus Christ, but when we point our fingers to the faux Christians and heretics, we are only bringing attention to the problems in religion, not Christianity. For me to serve Christ is to be able to impact the souls of the world, for me to follow religion and the traditions of man, is to lose my own soul, because Christ is not first. To follow any religion, no matter its creed, its leader, its origin, I’m not following the only example that is pure, which is Jesus Christ. Sure, Jesus scolded the Pharisees for profiting from following religion and the traditions of man in Matthew 15:1-9, but he did it when he was face to face with them, not in a message to the masses.

 

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I would imagine if Jesus constantly spoke on the problems in the churches of his day, he never would have had the time to preach the gospel. He couldn’t have reminded them of the prophecies that showed he was the Messiah, even though many rejected that. Those reminders did give them a sign after he was resurrected. He wouldn’t have had time to heal the sick. He never would have been able to be the loving example we have to follow today. There are plenty of wrong things happening to point out in religion and plenty of sins done by parishioners in Jesus’ time and today. If all he was doing was pointing to this heretic or that sinner, how would we know to be saved? How would we learn to love each other? How would we have an example to follow?

I choose to spend my life sharing the example of Christ, by being the best example I can be of him and sharing his love. Sure, I fall short, because I’m not him. I’m not neglecting that there is sin and evil in this world, but I’m loving those who are in the churches of heretical teachings, those who are sinners, because that is what Jesus did. The Holy Spirit is there to convict and to bring others to repentance. Jesus gave us a new commandment, to Love others as he loved us, in John 13:34-35. Loving others, to me is the crux of the gospel. I believe, if we don’t, we’ve missed it. Jesus said, that the world will know we are his followers by our ability to love those who are enemies and those who persecute us in Matthew 5:43-45. When we point out the fallacies of other religions, we point at their sin — Jesus didn’t point at their sin, except in instances of one on one, but he did say “Repent & Follow me.” ‘Put the world behind and follow me.’

If I choose to attack what others are doing wrong or what’s wrong in their religion, then I am alienating them by trashing what they identify with, and I look like another pseudo Christian. But if I love them, I win them over and then I may be able to show them individually how to repent if the Spirit gives me the opportunity. There is an abundance of humility that comes with living a spirit filled life, it is the meekness spoken of in the Bible, meekness is not weakness, it is restrained strength and humility. It is being able to know when to speak and only speaking in those circumstances. It is a controlled strength, having knowledge and using it wisely. The mass trashing of a group that I’ll never meet personally is not only not meekness, it has no effect, because spreading hate towards others and their religion doesn’t win anyone over. It only paints me as an angry person, whether I am or not, I come across as having righteous indignation. But seeing the wrong in another religion and keeping my mouth shut until a person in that group asks my opinion or personally comes to me with a question, is using restraint and meekness. Then I am acting as an example of Christ. I choose to follow Christ in love, instead of alienating all my religious friends by pointing out that their leaders or teachers are in error. Instead, we should just love them and share what Christ means to us. If our lives show that we have peace, instead of constant fraction against one entity or another; then we have something they might desire in their lives also. You see, I feel when we attack a group that we don’t have direct contact to effect, we alienate anyone affiliated with that group. And when we alienate, we lose our audience, but when we love, we have mass appeal. The beatitudes come into play here. Matthew 5:1-11

The example we have to follow is that when Jesus was speaking to the masses, he preached a general message of “Repent and follow me. Love everyone.” When Jesus had a personal audience, he often had a personal reprimand, but he did so in love. He didn’t call out to the masses what the Sadducees and Pharisees were doing wrong, nor did he call out to the masses what the woman at the well was doing, but in person, he pointed out to each of them their individual sins and gave them the opportunity to repent.

Will we follow his example? Will we learn to be wise or will we have righteous indignation? Whose example are we following? Is it our own, a leader who is every bit as fallible as we are, or are we following the only perfect example in Jesus? Are we trashing religion and thereby making Christianity irrelevant or are we living a Christ centered life and making Christianity more appealing?

The Spirit of Christmas

What is being in the Christmas Spirit? Is it being geared up to shop or decorate? Is it having an attitude of cheerfulness and wonder? Is it being merry and festive? While the attitude is nice, those things are sometimes just put on by people because they feel that it is expected of them to be cheerful during “the season.” The decorating and the shopping are the ‘fluff’ of the season. But what is the true spirit of Christmas? The word Christmas literally means the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. So if we are celebrating his birth, then why? Who is Jesus to us and what impact has he had on our lives? 

Unto you

For me, Jesus is the reason we celebrate Christmas, but it shouldn’t only be an annual celebration, it should be an ongoing year round jubilee. Without Jesus, we wouldn’t have eternal life or life more abundantly.  Jesus IS Life and Love. He came to produce life, and extinguish death. He died on the cross so that we (everyone) has a chance to have Eternal Life! And we do this simply by asking him to be our Savior and committing our lives to follow him. Jesus Lived and Loved as he walked on this earth and he is Living through us today, if we have accepted him. That alone should give us cause to celebrate! Anyone who has accepted Jesus as their Savior, carries the Spirit of the Living God within them. We are carrying Christmas, we are carrying the season wherever we go. But how many of us act like it? 

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

The True Spirit of Christmas has nothing to do with the peripheral things of shopping, decorating, or putting on an attitude. We add those by the traditions of man. The true Spirit of Christmas has everything to do with being in an attitude of loving, giving, showing mercy and grace, and reaching out to others. When we share love to our fellow man, when we carry the example of peace, and bring others to the Kingdom, then we are IN the Spirit of Christmas Every day of Our Lives. You can carry it and so can I. We should go out and greet others in that peace and love each day and then we are IN the Spirit of Christmas all year long, living the life more abundantly.