Link to other
Writings of David Chadwell When a Christian is active in God’s family on
earth for a many years, he or she experiences many joys and sorrows. He or she
experiences the joys of knowing, being encouraged by, and witnessing quality
people do incredible things. He or she also experiences the sorrows of seeing
some of those same incredible people make some extremely disappointing personal
decisions.
There are moments I remember feeling “justified” for doing things that I now
deeply regret. There are moments I remember saying things I thought were
profound only to discover later that they were only stupid. Unfortunately, life
does not have a “do over” button. When “now” anxieties “justify” anxious
decisions, later in life [when hopefully we know better because we have learned
more] all we can do is live with the regret.
I have seen incredible sacrifice, unbelievable kindness, quiet acts of service,
planned thoughtfulness beyond imagination, and forgiveness only because hearts
were touched by God. I have witnessed Christians take enormous risks to be kind.
I have seen Christians care for people one would not have thought they noticed.
Also, I have seen one elder force another elder to resign because “he is
consistently late.” I have had a mature Christian come to my carport before
daylight multiple times to put roofing nails under my tires because he was angry
with me. I once saw two leading men of a congregation prepare to fist fight each
other in a business meeting because they disagreed. I witnessed a congregation’s
leadership totally alter their decision process to keep one negative person from
vetoing all mission decisions. I have been told by an angry Christian that every
problem existing in a congregation was my fault. [None of these incidents
occurred in this congregation.]
In all these situations, Christians felt fully justified in their acts and
decisions. Also, all these Christians did some truly godly things. In my
judgment, they just got more emotional and anxious about matters than God is.
Thus, they decided they were “justified” in settling matters their way instead
of God’s way.
When we are dead and not even an asterisk on the horizon, God will still
prevail. We need to exercise great care to assist God and not Satan in our
anxieties. High on God’s priority list is the godless world learning peace from
God’s family.
Paul made this statement to Jewish Christians and gentile Christians who were in
such dispute that they treated each other as enemies: “But if you bite and
devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another”
(Galatians 5:15).
Link to other
Writings of David Chadwell
