I may learn technology at a snail’s pace…but I am loving some things our kids are teaching me. I absolutely love, “Group Me!” It is an app you download on your phone and you can form chat groups with your friends or family. The app allows for little private groups with the same common interests! One of the best things about Group Me is that if others in the group are texting back and forth, it doesn’t make my phone beep or vibrate. I can choose to join the conversation or just read.
I now have a “family group me” where our family can carry on conversations while miles apart and any one of us can join in at any time. I also have a Clemson fan “Group Me.” It has been fun in the recent bowl victory to celebrate and chat on the Clemson Group Me! You see, everyone on Group Me has the same enthusiasm and interest! NO negative….we all are enjoying the same “VIBES!”
Funny…have you ever been excited about something but you couldn’t share it because the people you were around didn’t share the same excitement? Your vibe wasn’t theirs? I’ve had moments where I’ve been excited about something and the group I was around….wasn’t tuned in to my interest or my passion! That’s why it is so much fun….to “group me” with people who share my passions! Group Me has allowed me to celebrate with others with similar vibes.
I am currently starting a God “Group Me.” I have found that when I get excited about the things God is doing around me, it doesn’t mean that others are excited about the same things. We all have different passions for ministry. I find that some people will be energized, encouraged and even inspired by what God is doing and some will not. Maybe their passion lies elsewhere.
Or, maybe they lack passion altogether. Could it be that the enthusiasm they see in others brings personal conviction? Why? When the Holy Spirit turns up the heat underneath you, it disrupts the status quo. Maybe those without passion are living the status quo and it makes them uncomfortable to have that disrupted.
The tendency then may be to mask their personal conviction with criticism. More times than not, criticism is a defense mechanism. We often criticize in others what we don’t like about ourselves. Or some people just don’t get it.
Look at 2 Samuel 6….David had just been crowned King of Israel. He had experienced major victory over the Philistines and was bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. He had a lot to be excited about. “But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him.”
Sadly, when we get excited about the Lord and what He is doing….some people, even our family, may not get the “excitement” and may even have contempt in their heart. Do not allow that to stop your excitement!
David’s wife did not approve of his excitement. But I love David’s response, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone in his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel–I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.”
Understand, spiritual maturity is thinking less and less about what other people think of you and more and more about what God thinks about you. At 52, God has asked me to do some things that may draw criticism. It can make your “Group Me” a rather small group. I have realized that when I am pleasing God, it may not make sense to others. I have to put “blinders” on and dance for an audience of One…..Jesus.
In the new year…I encourage you to seek a Holy God. Seek to please Him, even if it doesn’t make sense to others.
I Corinthians 3:12-13, “If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.” Temporal rewards don’t last–wood, hay and straw–they will be consumed by the fire. Live your life in such a way as to earn precious metals such as silver and gold and precious stones. Precious items to fill a crown that you can one day lay at the feet of Jesus.
There is no better sleep than to lay your head on the pillow at night knowing that you have done your best to please God.