Last year, around so-called Easter 2012, my family transferred to Westminster OPC from Branch of Hope OPC in Torrance. We did so not only for small picky reasons (Westminster has better singers, uses hymnals, is more involved in OPC activities) but also for a big reason, which I'll elaborate upon here as I point at my own guilt as well.
That reason was a failure to act appropriately. Many people in our day and age, especially myself, obsessively try to regulate their emotions, thus controlling their behavior. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself: one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. But blind self-control is paralysis, and paralysis leads to indecisiveness, and indecisiveness leads to misery and solitude. Self-control must be met with proper action-- there is a time for war, and a time for peace. Mourn with the mourners, rejoice with those who rejoice. Self-control, as a fruit of the Spirit, is governed and infused by the Spirit of Christ, which dictates certain prescriptions and proscriptions. Adultery is prohibited; love to our neighbors is commanded. (Remember, brothers, that Jesus calls these commands "easy")
My mother endured many hard trials, and the most support she received was a bouquet of flowers. Her trials aren't public, but if they were it would be unanimously agreed that flowers (to which she is allergic; don't give my mom flowers. She likes dark chocolate instead :D) would be inadequate support for a mourning woman such as her.
But I must remember these words cut me to the quick as well. I've been guilty of paralyzed self-regulation that restrained me from fulfilling the Christian duties driven by the overflowing love of Christ in my heart. I've even been guilty of these things, knowing my own family's faults. I haven't been forth-loving towards my brother, content as I was to have let him stew in his sinful rage of his youth against the lines given to us by God. I assumed the grace of God, and He heard my cries, though I was unwilling to be His voice.
That reason was a failure to act appropriately. Many people in our day and age, especially myself, obsessively try to regulate their emotions, thus controlling their behavior. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself: one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. But blind self-control is paralysis, and paralysis leads to indecisiveness, and indecisiveness leads to misery and solitude. Self-control must be met with proper action-- there is a time for war, and a time for peace. Mourn with the mourners, rejoice with those who rejoice. Self-control, as a fruit of the Spirit, is governed and infused by the Spirit of Christ, which dictates certain prescriptions and proscriptions. Adultery is prohibited; love to our neighbors is commanded. (Remember, brothers, that Jesus calls these commands "easy")
My mother endured many hard trials, and the most support she received was a bouquet of flowers. Her trials aren't public, but if they were it would be unanimously agreed that flowers (to which she is allergic; don't give my mom flowers. She likes dark chocolate instead :D) would be inadequate support for a mourning woman such as her.
But I must remember these words cut me to the quick as well. I've been guilty of paralyzed self-regulation that restrained me from fulfilling the Christian duties driven by the overflowing love of Christ in my heart. I've even been guilty of these things, knowing my own family's faults. I haven't been forth-loving towards my brother, content as I was to have let him stew in his sinful rage of his youth against the lines given to us by God. I assumed the grace of God, and He heard my cries, though I was unwilling to be His voice.
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