Judging another's Spiritual Maturity

Judging another’s Spiritual Maturity

Based on where we think we are spiritually, whether a new Christian or the pastor of a large church, we may deceive ourselves and either believe we have nothing to share or nothing to learn from those less mature than us. This may lead to an inability to receive from an “ordinary” less mature person.

Think about a two year old you know…. Can they teach you something? My grandson Connor, who is almost two, taught me something yesterday. He was running around a restaurant like a crazy person, displaying his independence. When his dad tried to get him to come back to the table he screamed, “NOOOOO”. I thought about my own life and how I sometimes run around like a crazy person, and when God tries to get hold of me, I rebel!

Recently, while visiting a new church, a pastor asked me, “Why would God choose you to go out on mission when you don’t have a strong Bible knowledge?” Well, I could have felt insulted or said to myself (which I did), “Maybe I need a Bachelor’s in Theology or Religion”. Or I could have felt inadequate (which I did) but then two seconds later God shook me and I replied to the pastor, “God chose me because I was willing and available.

You see, two years ago when God called Gary, Collette and Shelby Uhler, we answered. We agreed to give up everything and sacrifice our own lives. Why? Because God gave us a vision and showed us that something is desperately wrong in some of the churches in America. I could write a whole blog on that subject but let’s get back on point.

Have you ever seen the cartoon, “Pinky and the Brain”? Let me give you my interpretation of the characters. The Brain is always trying to take over the world using his own plan and Pinky is following him around, with a smirk on his face, as if to say, “That will never work!”

So how do we overcome the “Pinky and the Brain” syndrome? Or the opposite “I’m too spiritually young and immature to share anything of value” syndrome? First, we must stop running around like a crazy person, trying to take over the world for God. We must follow Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." We also must have faith and believe God’s Word which says, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’" Mathew 19:26 (NIV)

And lastly, we must be open to hearing from God through many different sources including our two year old grandson.

Fat free or Guilt free?

It’s funny that most of you probably thought I was going to go all spiritual on you. In the case of fat free I’m actually talking about food.

First, we must devour a few facts and opinions. A play on words!

The chemistry of fat

•  Fats are large molecules made up of elements - Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen

• Due to such a molecular arrangement, fat contains more energy storing    carbon hydrogen bonds than carbohydrate

• Our body converts all the excess sugar taken through' diet into fat

Dietary FATs are good to us:
 

• It provides greatest energy source per gram of food give details 1gm of oil gives 9 calories.

• Fat acts as an insulator and thus maintains body temperature. This is particularly important for people living in cold or extreme cold climates.
  

• Fat improves the taste, aroma, texture of the food and also helps in digestion.

• Fat provide essential fatty acids. Human body does not manufacture these.

• Fat protects internal organs from shock and injury.

• Good FAT and Essential Fatty Acids consumed in right proportions give good impact on human health.

• We can eat at a mixture of nuts (like walnut, soybean, pine nut, sunflower seeds to name a few) a quarter of a cup and 3-4 times in week to get essential fatty acids.

Source: Nandini Thogarapalli. a grade four student at Dr. E.W. Coffin School,Calgary, AB



The chemistry of guilt
 
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Guilt is a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes - accurately or not - that they have violated a moral standard, and is responsible for that violation. (1) It is closely related to the concept of remorse.
 

Genesis 3:7-10 (NIV)
 
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
 
Above excerpt from Biblegateway.com

After sinning, Adam and Eve felt guilt and embarrassment over their nakedness. Their guilty feelings made them try to hide from God. A guilty conscience is a warning sign God placed inside you that goes off when you’ve done wrong. The worst step you can take is to eliminate the guilty feelings without eliminating the cause. That would be like using a painkiller but not treating the disease. Be glad those guilty feelings are there. They make you aware of your sin so you can ask God’s forgiveness and then correct your wrongdoing.

Application note, Life Application Study Bible, Genesis 3:7, 8.


Now it’s time to digest. So fat and guilt can both be good for you. If the question were posed to me prior to reading this I would have definitely picked “guilt free” but now I’ve changed my mind. I choose “Guilty, but forgiven”. 

Amen