Unloving Advice

Often I see people give advice and tell another person that they are on the wrong path in this or that way. It is often that a person criticizes another's career path or direction they are taking, but offer no alternate path.

It is quite disheartening to be told that you are "on the wrong path" career wise or in another way but to not be told what the right path is. A critique with no superior solution is a worthless critique.

To say a solution is poor but to not have any idea of a better solution is at best a waste of breath and in fact more likely unloving. To criticize without giving hope is completely un-Christian in spirit.

We should build up others. If we cannot be building up and offering a better approach than it is best that we say nothing at all.

The church needs to lift its members up. For its members who struggle and seem to lack direction the church needs to be conscious to only provide uplifting support.

It is of no use for the church to tell members struggling with direction that their career path is suspect but offer no assistance. But in many churches today this is exactly what happens. No real help is offered to membership, but rather only judgement.

A German Saying

"A steady drip bores a hole in the rock." (German saying)

Recent events brought my mind back to this German saying.  “A steady drip bores a hole in the rock.”  Satan wishes to sift us.  Satan is a slow drip that attempts to bore deeply into our being.  Satan gives us slow almost unperceivable shakes.  Each shake is like a drip of water trying to bore out a smidgen of goodness out of us.

As Christian the opposite is true.  God is a slow steady drip boring out a smidgen of sin, with each drip.  And God is a slow stead drip building us up in him.  As Christians we need to turn our eyes to Christ and keep them on him constantly.  When we turn our eyes off Christ, the drip of sin slowly bores a hole in our Godliness.  But, as we gaze at the infinite beauty of God most clearly demonstrated on the cross we are slowly built up. God will bore all sin out of us Christians at the second coming, but all of eternity God will be a steady drip for us building us up.  A steady drip that will cause us to wonder, marvel, enjoy, and forever praise our Father.