My Latest CGGC Blog Comment

Gang,

I hope you've read Lance's latest: Don't Just Move On 

If you haven't read it, you'll be able to glean some of its message from my comment.

I've not done much in the last week beyond taking care of Evie who, incidentally, is progressing normally after her surgery.

But, when I read the eNews, I immediately felt these thoughts...among others. (I might write up the others if I feel led and have the opportunity.)

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Lance,

Sadly, you are correct.  CGGC people today follow the culture by, in this case, briefly showing interest in the problem of racial injustice only to drop that concern to care about something else.

This has been the way of the CGGC for decades.

In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others."

Like the  scribes and Pharisees, the people of the CGGC are not people of "justice and mercy and faithfulness." We might care about justice and mercy and faithfulness for a moment. But, justice and mercy and faithfulness are not in our hearts.

If our hearts had been tuned to what Jesus calls "the weightier matters of the law," we would have been living for justice, mercy and faithfulness before the George Floyd tragedy. And, there would be no concern that we'd move on from these issues close to the heart of what Jesus taught and lived.

These days, our hearts are not aligned with the life Jesus lived, nor with the teachings Jesus taught...and we experience spiritual decay and numerical decline.

Yet, we know that, in the first generation of the Church of God movement, our people were deeply committed to living lives of justice, mercy and faithfulness...and our movement thrived.

Jesus said to one church, "Repent and do the things you did at first."

I believe that those are His words for the CGGC today. The time has come for us to return to our old and radical ways. We will do that only after we repent.

I am convinced that there are people in our body who will follow you if you take your direction from our past, if you yourself live justice and mercy and faithfulness as Jesus commanded...if you live an example that can be followed.

Jesus commanded us to let our light so shine before others that they will see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

You are the one person in the CGGC uniquely positioned to let his light shine for everyone in our body to see.

Thank you for your challenging words. Now, please, show us the way.