Bible Thumping & Seed Planting

"Is she some kind of Bible thumper?" I heard those words a couple of days ago and it just really took me by surprise when I heard them. I spend so much time around truly devoted Christians that have personal relationships with the Lord. I have a personal relationship with the Lord too and while I honestly realize many people find God talk boring and even worse, Christians who talk about God annoying and boring it always shocks me when I am in a group of people who can't stand any "God talk". It really does.

The label "Bible Thumper" is not something I am not even going to argue with someone nor were they refering to me when they asked the question thankfully. I have known a few Bible thumpers in my time unfortunately. They are the legalistic Christians who say they have Jesus but show little love. They are so proud of how "holy" they are and let everyone around them at all times know how "unholy" they are. They evangelise constantly and for that I give them much respect but they do it in a way that is annoying, judgemental and well, mean. Who wants to follow that ole crow?

I wondered what to do at that point, should I speak that a Christian way of life does not have to be a hypocritical and boring one? So I just asked God for a door of sorts. He gave me one. God, you are soooo cool. It was pretty neat, the subject just eased into a Biblical teaching that I just happened to have finished studying and I just couldn't let the opportunity to speak what the Bible says about this subject go. What happened next was awesome. As I gently eased into what God would say about this suddenly this very loud room packed with people went dead silent. Dead silent. I spoke about God's truth on this and everyone listened, quietly and intently. It was a beautiful moment for me personally. Then I cracked a joke of sorts to put the room back to a "normal" mood and everyone smiled and began talking again.

I learned something wonderful from that. People are curious about God's word. I think they were really interested in what I had to say and maybe they hadn't heard about God before without being in a boring church or by a condescending person telling them they are living a sinful life. For me, it was beautiful to be able to share knowledge about God and how we are created in different ways in His image with people who may have never heard that before. I would have LOVED to go "full sermon" but that would have been pretty rude of me, it wasn't the place or time. But, I would have LOVED it.

I have never heard the name of the Lord taken in vain with curse words so many times before. I think I visibly cringed each time I heard it. It was almost painful to hear it so y'all I had to get me some good stuff in too. Do you ever just wish you could tell people about God and Jesus and they just get it and want Him? UGH. It is so frustrating sometimes to try to insert God's truth and word into conversations with people who do not either believe in Him or actively worship the Lord in any way. They are so resistant to any mention of going to church at all aren't they? I wonder what has happened to them to make them not worship or believe? Probably lots of things.... but you know what I have learned this past year that I know that I must teach my children and as many people as I can?

I have learned that I need to teach my kids that worshiping God is something that you can't just stop doing. Worshiping God needs to be viewed as an actual personal relationship with another being. If we break a relationship off with another person we know we are no longer connected to them in any way so how can we break off a personal relationship with God and still say we are part of Him and His family? We need to stay connected, we need to talk to Him, we need to do all the things with God that we would desire someone in a relationship to do with us at the very least? I mean, how ridiculous would it be to get married to someone and then leave them a few years later & disappear but 20 years down the road have someone ask you about your spouse and you would say "I've been married over 20 years." No, you haven't. You quit being married the day you left your spouse. I am not even getting into a salvation discussion here but one of all the time I hear people say they believe in God or that they are Christians but it has been years since they entered a Church. They can't remember the last time they read anything in a Bible. They do not hardly or ever pray but since they prayed a salvation prayer when they were a little kid and went to Church as a youth and visit during the special holidays sometimes they think they are just fine and dandy with God and are a part of his family. It is just an awesome work that Satan has done to deceive people. He has done a great job of deceiving people in that way and how did we ever let him get away with it?

It frustrates me so..... I just want to see people happy and not let another soul over into Satan's camp. I heard a pastor the other day say people are dying constantly and then he began tapping rapidly on the podium. They are dying at this pace all around your city, as he is still tapping, while you are eating lunch.... again more tapping, while you are brushing your teeth..... again more tapping, while you sip your coffee...... more tapping. How can you sit there and eat your food and sip your coffee and know that you didn't share the love of Jesus with someone? Why aren't we evangelizing more? CAN YOU SAY CONVICTION?

People were dying in Canton, GA this morning as I sipped my coffee and harvested my crops in Farmville on Facebook. Did I miss an opportunity to share Jesus with one of them? Did I miss an opportunity to share the love of Christ with someone who may have known one of them and could have shared that love with them?

I don't want to be known as a "Bible Thumper" because that person is just a little too much for everyone around them. But boy, I sure do want to be the person planting seeds of love, seeds of knowledge about the true picture of what a Christian life is.... that it is wonderful and not boring and full of don'ts. I want to plant seeds of compassion, seeds of mercy and giving, seeds that will grow and when given the opportunity I want to share the story of God, who He really is and who His Son is and lead someone to our awesome God. I want them to know it is not just about saying a prayer and they are done and it might be nice if they did the obligatory visit to Church on Sunday too. That is NOT worshiping God, that is a lie of the devil. I almost wish we could stop using the word worship and use relationship instead because there is such a deception as to what it even means to worship Him anymore. Relationship is a very personal term and relationship implies that there are two parties giving and taking, talking and answering, loving and being loved.

Does anybody feel this?

Well, I just know that if I can find the time to plant seeds on my farm in Facebook I should be able to find the time to plant seeds of the gospel too. There are WAY too many opportunities in daily conversation with people to miss out on a little seeding along the way.

Love y'all,

Jenn