I recently told a good friend of mine that I was attending a
Baptist church. His first words were, “But they don’t believe so many things.”
You have to understand that I am a full fledged charismatic/ Pentecostal born
again man. To make matters more interesting for him, I shared that at one of
the services, a lady heard me signing during the praise and worship service,
and thought that I had an angel’s voice.
It turned out that she was the choir director and lovingly persuaded me
to join their choir. By the time I was finished talking to him, he didn't know
what to say. See, I was the guy who lifted up his hands during worship, spoke
in tongues, and even occasionally ran down the aisle. Get the picture?
Reflecting on this friend’s reaction inspired this post.
“And He said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who
does not believe
will be condemned.” Mark 16:15-16.
When Christ told his disciples to preach the gospel, He never
said anything about going to preach to dudes because they will be baptized with
the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus never said, “ And their
denomination shall be called...”. Nowadays, we have segregated ourselves into
so many man-made doctrines, and it appears that many of us have forgotten the
simplicity of the love story of Jesus Christ.
When I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I did it alone. I
heard no voice saying, “Go ye join the Pentecostal, Baptist, Charismatic,
Lutheran and so forth movements.” No, I was redeemed, and the angels in heaven
threw a party for me. The angels were not concerned about what denomination I
would gravitate towards. They were parading and rejoicing about my decision. Let me be very clear that there is
nothing wrong with any these man-made doctrines. It boils down to
personal preference.
If you look at history, you will find out that many wars were
started by Christians factions, not unbelievers. Fighting for power or whose
perspective they thought was best to follow.
Nowadays, our wars are more subtle since we have become so civilized and
educated. We see even in the church, we have become so politically correct.
Some of us are fighting against ourselves all the way to the chapel because of
doctrinal ideologies. When we present ourselves before the Lord, He is not
going to ask you what doctrine you followed. He is indeed going to ask you, did
you know my Son as your Savior. The
enemy does not have to spend any effort here since we have now become his
biggest ally.
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one
hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God
and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians
4: 4-6
This is a fact, all “Christian”
doctrines point in one direction, Jesus as the only Savior. Our command is to
love one another, not to separate ourselves into so many different entities. We
are supposed to be One Body. There
really is no time for anything else, but to cheer each other on through the
best race there is.
So are you still stuck following
doctrines and ideologies or Jesus?
Share in the comments below.
doctrines and ideologies or Jesus?
Share in the comments below.
________________________________________________
This is a guest post by Rick Cubas. He is a wild at heart kind of guy who is married to a wonderful
woman and is a father to three beautiful little girls. He owns a Farmers
Insurance Agency in Houston, TX. He is a
changed and redeemed man, who had an ocean for a backyard as a child and never
imagined he’d grow up to become a friend of God. Check out his other posts here!
Enjoyed the story. I am also of amixed background: Baptist and Pentecostal.
ReplyDeletethe only insurance is jesus himself knowing him loving him obeying him and the words he spoke...and acknowledging the laws of our lord and taking delight in them
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a non-denominational, went to a Baptist Church after that and now go to a Pentecostal Church. There definitely have their differences, but I love the energy of the Pentecostal Church. And my wife and I have made some amazing friends. Thanks for sharing this post!
ReplyDeletejesuswithoutbaggage, anonymous, and Manturity: thank you for enjoying the post. Yes anonymous we are all mixed to some degree, our only insurance at the end is Christ,and Manturiy, I agree with the energy but the amazing friendships you have created along the way are priceless. A take away from this post is that we our One Body and nothing else. We are to truly love one another if we want unbelievers to see Christ through us.
ReplyDeleteRick Cubas
John Wesley had a saying that exactly fits this issue: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in everything, love."
ReplyDelete