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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Sad Saints In the last while I have met so many sad Christians who have been hurt by other Christians in their church. The particular people that I am thinking about have genuine reasons to be hurt. Some have been hurt by an unhealthy emphasis on authority. Others have been hurt by nasty actions of people, including church leaders. Such things should not happen in the church. Of course some hurts are brought on by people themselves, but I am not thinking of those people at the moment. I am thinking of those who have been genuinely hurt. My heart goes out to them. I do remember Jesus saying that "offenses will come". We live in a fallen world, and even in the church, people will offend you. Yet many offenses should not occur. They only happen because of a lack of godliness in the lives of Christians. One thing I'd like to say to the offended person who is trying to find his way in the church. Fall in love with Jesus all over again. So often we get caught up with secondary issues and forget about our Lord Jesus. Keep Jesus central in your life. This will help you immensely. Really, He should be central in your life anyway. Over the years some of us have substituted our love for Jesus with love for other things. We get caught up in church activity and forget why we are in church. We often grow to love the work of the Lord more than the Lord of the work. Just keep Jesus first. I feel so sorry for those hurt Christians who are having a hard time finding their way in the world of church. "Jesus, help these people". Some advice to the church is to stop majoring on miner issues, and major on Jesus. Stop being so authority driven and let talented people express their love for Jesus. Heavy handed authority will kill creativity. Allow more freedom of expression. I know we can't please everyone all of the time. I do think we can do better at providing an atmosphere for growth in ministry that is so often stifled because of all the restrictions we place on Christians. Let the particular parts of Jesus' body do their job. Let a hand be a hand. Don't try to make a hand a foot. Let an eye be an eye, and an ear be an ear. Let's realize that everyone does not have to be as we are.
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