Clothed In Christ, But Not Quite Sons of God!

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26-28

women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 1 Corinthians 14:34

I have heard many speakers throughout my life in worship and while many of them are greatly gifted in the presentation of a lesson, it often falls flat from the lack of passion. I have been greatly blessed over the past few years because I see passion behind the message on a regular basis. Blessed as I have been, if I was ever given the chance, I would do everything within my power to have Beth Moore come deliver a message for us and make sure everyone in our area got an invitation. Just my thinking but I believe our building could easily be packed with over 500 people pushing to get in and hear her speak. While the youth of our world will not be so heavily influenced by our tradition, I don't see it happening any time soon because we can't seem to allow women the fullness of being sons of God!

As in my past, there are still many who, if asked, would simply admit, "I won't/can't do that for Christ," and so we continue to ignore some of the most passionate speakers for the cause of Christ. This post was almost called "Where Are The Passionate Preachers?"

While this post is not about Beth Moore, I have heard her speak in worship (not mine) and left greatly encouraged in my faith. I am glad that many of the women I know are studying her materials and gaining great insight into their walk with Christ.

The real reason for this post is the women in my life! I am surprised my wife's mother didn't kick me out of the house because the mean spirit of my traditional upbringing let her know early in our family association that I did not consider her prepared for heaven. I don't know if I told my mother-in-law that I knew she was going to hell but she knew I thought it! Knowing better now, I can't even imagine how I could have believed something so ridiculous since the fruit from her service to God was so evident. In the last weeks of her life, she was making hundreds of flower pens for the shut-ins who could not get out. Her skin was so fragile from the medicine and bandages that it would tear off and blood would stain the paper towels around her work area.

Her passion for Christ also came through towards the one who was basically condemning her for being Baptist and worse yet, playing piano during worship. She told my wife that she was glad her daugher was marrying a Christian man! See what I mean! She found love and acceptance for someone who condemned everything she stood for. When I look back now, I saw something every day I was in her house and I wish I could tell her how much better I understand now. She studied her Bible every day regardless of what was taking place and while I have marked passages in several bibles, several of her bibles have numerous comments and thoughts on almost every page! She had passion for Christ and while the lesson took a while to get through my thick skull, Christ was seen by me in her! I hope we would all like for someone to see Christ in us.

If this post had not been called as mentioned previously, it might have been something like Intellectual vs. Passion because in my life, I have often seen the intellectual side of Christianity modeled by men who prepare lessons for the adult classes and sermons. We study and "know" the material and I have to admit how this is a good thing. The hard thing to admit is that I would rather my passion for Christ show than any amount of knowledge I can show from research and reading. My confession has to be that the women in my life have always had more passion for Christ than myself and I pray this is just another "hang-up" from my past as I was raised to be the CEO of my house! I grew up having to be right because my salvation depended on being right and I didn't have time for passion.

Alright, I will get to the point! If this is only the case for one man, every other one is lucky from my point of view. If I am not alone, then where are we going to learn passion for Christ if we don't go to those where passion is burning so hot?

When I look around, I am surrounded by passion for Christ. My own wife has taken up her mother's place and is in her bible whether sickness or health and I have a daughter spending more of her own money to go on a mission trip to India than I probably even made in high school. Start naming those who are constantly serving the congregation and nothing of value seems to take place without the greatest Christian examples actually knowing AND LIVING the Bible!

I hope I can grow enough to show those with such passion for Christ how they are FULLY SONS OF GOD in my eyes and not something to be seen but not heard!