From: news@cbnewsk.att.com
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Gospel According to me
Date: 8 Jan 93 05:46:41 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs

In article <Jan.7.01.22.24.1993.6092@geneva.rutgers.edu> shetler@eemips.tamu.edu (Joy Shetler) writes:
>In article <Jan.5.03.30.22.1993.1060@geneva.rutgers.edu> labson@borneo.corp.sgi.com writes:
>>When witnessing, most of the Christians always says "According to the
>>Gospel of Matthew, MArk Luke & John..this...& that...etc" at least
>>that's how a brother witness to me....he quoted a lot of stuff from the
>>Gospel of M,M,L,J....but nothing about what God has done to
>>him..........
>
>>In my opinion (again only my opinion) We better start
>>telling the GOSPEL according us, individually...what God has done to our
>>lives, Our experience with God etc..etc...Matthew,Mark,Luke or John
>>cannot speak for us, Only us can tell others what God has done in our
>>own lives.....I think you can effectively witness to others if you tell
>>the Gospel According to you...... 
>
>Yes, I agree that we also need to bring our personal testimony into everything
>we do.  We need to not only tell others of the great work that God has done
>in our lives but live so that others can see Christ in us.  That usually means
>a lot more than warming a pew and involves not so much sacrificing our personal
>wants and desires as much as LIVING as God intended us to live.  Very few
>needy people are going to be moved through the self-effort of somebody bragging
>about their lives.  Somehow this has to be mixed with prayer, God's timing for
>that individual, and people who can truly love the person that is being
>"witnessed" to. 
>
I think that's great advice.  Both articles.  I think if being a Christian
does not make you happy and excited about life and a readiness to love,
then you're doing something wrong.  I used to feel as if I had a quota
of converts I needed.  But that's ego, what I needed was to accept God's
will over my own, to remain humble.  Everything seems to fit when I place
myself as no better than a prostitute.  The only way this works is if I
sense my value, not coming from what I do right, but that it comes from 
God loving me enough to give me the gift of life and everything else I
have.  I receive great peace when I remove any pride from the fact that
I am intelligent or have a good job or have a nice house.  It also frees
me of worries of am I too fat, do people think I'm ugly, etc., because
I don't place any value on such traits.  I call them 'are' traits.  They
just are.

This type of pride that is proud of God given gifts as if they were earned
is false, and deep down, your psyche knows this and will not have peace
until it is accepted, yes, I was lucky, but for the grace of God, I'd
have nothing.  Once this is accepted, the need to prove yourself through
sexual conquests or financial gains or multitudes of converts is removed.
This frees us to focus on living.  It seems boring to me at times.  

Peace can be like that, I guess.  But eventually, I persevere and focus on
living.  I don't think God is dictating me to do A B C and D, but encouraging
me to experience the good things in life.  Enjoy my family, enjoy my work,
get to know people, appreciate people.  I don't feel as if I have a mission
like Paul to preach the resurrection, I feel more as if I just need to 
live freely and trust God.  And if someone asks for advice or asks why
I'm so happy, I can personalize it, but basically I know the truth, it's
trusting in God, accepting myself as valuable without having to prove it,
accepting whatever I have as enough or more than enough, and looking for 
positive, creative, life affirming things to do, and then mustering up the 
energy to do them.  I guess my greatest weakness these days is laziness, 
refusing to make the effort.

Joe Moore