Following MAN leads to YOUR fall...

How often do we see this? Man's eyes are on man - not God. When that man/leader falls, people fall away as well.

When man disappoints, people are devestated. This ought not be.

There is freedom in Christ. Why do we find ourelves in bondage to man? Serving God is good, refreshing, an honor. Serving man is exhausting and leads to burnout & bad attitudes.

Which brings me to a question -

WHY IS THERE SO MUCH BURN-OUT IN OUR CHURCHES?

I'm sure it's a combination of different things. One thing I've seen is people signing up because of who the leader is asking them. They feel obligated by their relationship to the leader(s). God gives you strength to do what HE calls you to. Another reason may be that people who are called to serve ARE NOT answering the call...and so, so many other feel the pressure to pick up the slack and take on too many commitments.

Which brings me to the next questions -

WHY AREN'T PEOPLE ANSWERING THE CALL TO SERVE?

Could it be that they are either NOT putting themselves in a place to hear God's call? Or they hear Him, but they're just disobedient?

Which leads me to ask:

WHY ARE SO MANY DISOBEDIENT TO THE WORD OF GOD,

THE CALL OF GOD, GOD'S VOICE?

Could it me they have no idea how good God's love is? They don't know of the rewards and blessings that await them. Maybe they don't really pursue a relationship with their Creator, their Master, because they're unknowingly judging God by the judgmentalness of His followers.

Which leads me to ask -

WHY ARE SO MANY BELIEVERS JUDGMENTAL?

God is the Judge, the righteous Judge. Our job as believers/followers of Jesus are to love people and accept them so that they are interested in who Jesus is. If you are the billboard of Christ, are you attracting people to God or repelling them with your unloving, judgmental attitude? God is love, so we should be people of love, right?

Lessons to take away:

• Never put man in the place of God.
• Live to love and please God - only!
• Serve God when & where He calls you and needs you!
• Don't be a judgmental Christian - that's an oximoron!

We are all at different places in our maturity in God. And sometimes the drug addiction has to go before we can get down to the layer of judgmentalness. But stay alert on how you treat the lost and unsaved. Don't judge them for their lifestyles, they just haven't experienced God's forgiveness and goodness to want to change yet. And you repel them with your critical words - don't let them misjudge God by your lack of acceptance. Jesus wants us to come to Him as we are. So accept people for who they are and then, spend time praying for them, encouraging them, and speaking life over them. This is what will attract them to our Lord & Savior!

What does this have to do with serving man vs. serving God? When we serve God, we are living to please Him, we repeat what we hear HIM say. When we serve man, we adopt that fallen man's opinions and attitudes which are usually not as life-giving, promising, and loving as God's Word. So - do as God calls you to.

And if man disagrees w/ you, hand him over to God to deal with. When your heart's aspirations are to live for God, seek His face daily and you are filled up with the joy of the Lord, the Spirit of God...you can't really God wrong. God does not change and shift like man. What God says is the standards for life. His Words are life! So follow God with all your heart and never waver in pleasing Him. You will lead many more to Christ by doing this, than by following man and trying to please man.

And keep in mind, man is sinful. He's not perfect. When you get stuck in the trap of pleasing him, you will hurt others in the process. And when man falls, disappoints, breaks agreement with you...you will be left plumeting down a well with confusion, unknowing to how to restart your service to God. You will feel as though you are in the wilderness. And you are. You got off the right path for your life when you followed man down the trail and took your eyes off the One who knows the way.

Final Words:

Follow Christ. Love Christ. Aim to be like Christ - you can't go wrong there!

Amen? Amen.