I walked in on three guys at my church building a wall (which I alluded to in the previous post) in one of our rooms. After I finished laughing at them (hey, they laugh at me all the time) I inquired why they were using a Ram Set instead of a typical hammer and nails, or drill and screws to construct this wall. Their answer was what I expected from three men. But before I get to that, let me tell you what a Ram Set is.
A Ram Set is a tool that is loaded with a.22 caliber bullet (more like a blank) in a chamber and a nail in the tip of the barrel. It is designed to be hit with a hammer, which fires the round, and then shoots the nail out of the Ram Set. Basically, this is a gun that shoots nails. The gun was designed to be used when you need to drive a nail into concrete. So when these guys were using this to nail 2x4's together I laughed, because it was overkill. To give you an idea of how much overkill it was, one of the 2x4's exploded and sent wooden shrapnel into the face of one of the workers. He was bleeding but was having a blast (pun intended).
Here is how they answered me, "Why would we use anything else when we have this much power at your finger tips". Good answer! How could I argue with that. Guys will be guys, and it's best to let them be guys instead of trying to cage that up inside of them (the church needs more manly men anyways, I just hope my insurance agent isn't reading this)
Christian, you have been given a Ram Set, but often times we use a hammer to live life. God has provided us with a spirit of power that is brought to us by His Spirit. But so often, we choose to live out of our own strength and at the end of the day we are exhausted, trying to do things for God, trying to earn his merit, trying to change the world, instead of living out each moment in the faith provided to us by the Holy Spirit
Just this week I have been feeling condemned as if I was not doing enough as a young pastor for my church. I have been feeling like I need to do more, but I honestly have nothing left to give. I called an old pastor friend up and he shot me (pun intended) straight, he said, "Greg, you have to be willing to fail and be a failure in your sight and the sight of others in order to succeed greatly in the area(s) in which God has called you." WOW! Talk about powerful. I am letting people down left and right because they have expectations on me (good Godly expectations) that I cannot fulfill. But when I try to fulfill them, which I have solely to please them, I am living out of my power, aiming to please people, (friends, family, strangers) and not God. But when I am OK at failing in the sight of men, I am free to succeed in the areas in which God has truly called me.
You begin to live in divine power when you choose not to let this world or your peers dictate who you are going to be and what you are going to do, but rather when you choose to be whom God called you to be and do what God has called you to do regardless of your reputation and self image.
2 Timothy 1:7 says for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Notice it says power, love, and self control. Not reckless power that mows people over, but power that enables us to love people, and power that is controlled by that love.
Last point then I have to get back to what I was doing. I had dinner with a friend last night and we were talking about life. This gentlemen looked at me and said, "Greg, just shoot the breeze, it is only me and you here"(we were at a restaurant but I knew what he meant). Thank God someone allowed me to be human! 5 minutes later, a lady walked up and said, "I overheard what you were saying and I have some advice to give you..." Well, even when we live in an environment where we think we are safe and free to be who we are without being judged, there is always someone watching us and forming opinions that seem to find their way back to us and try to hold us in our self condemnation.
Thanks for reading! Back to shopping for a Ram Set on Amazon, I got plans to build a killer bird feeder (no pun intended this time).
BTW....My check engine light just came on again, ugh. http://www.midtownchurchfl.blogspot.com/2013/05/its-all-his.html
