Two Kinds of People

There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind that divide the world into two kinds of people, and the kind that don't. Old joke, but I like it.

There are the kind of people who step up and talk to folks when they need to, and the kind that run away from conflict. I have worked very hard to be the first kind, but it means overcoming a lifetime of being the second kind. I got a good example today of what it means to step up and talk to someone, and I was in a place (finally!) to not let it mess with me and make me re-think everything I'm doing and want to change and make them happy. Here's what I mean:

Someone called me today and told me that they were leaving the church. Actually, they had quit coming a while ago, but they called to talk to me about it. I appreciate that kind of honesty. They said that they just were not getting fed in the sermons. The irony of that after what I said on Sunday was not lost on me, but I kept that part to myself. We talked about what it meant to get 'meat' in a sermon, and it basically came down to a difference of opinion on what is important in a sermon. He wanted me to use Greek and Hebrew, share the 'deeper' meaning of stuff, and I believe that knowledge is only worth something if you can apply it.

We can agree to disagree, and we can affirm each other and respect each other in our differences, and when we hung up, we both said we would love to be a help to each other if the need came up. That's what being a Christian is supposed to be about. That's what it means to walk together in the journey of faith. We don't have to agree on everything, and we don't have to convince each other of our personal 'right-ness' all the time. We can love each other in Christ and serve where we serve, use our gifts in the place that God put us without having to bash each other over the little places where we differ.

He's not going to convince me that I need to 'feed' him 'meat' from the Word, and I'm not going to convince Him that it's more about what we do with what we know than it is about what we know. He needs something different in this season of life, and I pray that God will reveal Himself to my friend in a fresh way wherever he ends up going to church. And I pray that people will come and fill in the gaps that he leaves in our church by his departure.

But in the end, I appreciate the fact that my friend was honest, that he talked to me rather than about me, and that he took the time to listen to me, too. I respect him even more for that. He didn't dump and run, he didn't fire a rocket over his shoulder, and he didn't leave mad. Good for him, better for Jesus.

That's what I want to be when I grow up. More like Jesus. That's why I'm excited to get into His Word in the I Saw the Lord campaign. God is up to something big, and it's not just in my life, it's in all of us. I hope you see it. I hope you get it. I hope you see the Lord.