Practice What You Preach!

I don't always practice what I preach, so to speak. Whenever someone comes to me and says, "Hey, I have run into a tough spot and am thinking about doing 'xyz' in response to it," I usually say, "Is what you are choosing to do as a response wisdom? Does it set a right example to others? Not just does it satisfy your goal or prove your point, but can others look at it and say you chose well in your approach? Whether or not they agree with you is besides the point."

It seems that I lacked some wisdom in a previous blog post and need to follow my own advise.

Therefore an apology and some clarification are due from me to those who may be reading this blog concerning my post about the Don Piper event. I was bravely approached by a very dear brother in Christ a while back about the comments I made in that post. I don't think that he could have addressed me any more appropriately than he did. I am sure that it was hard for him to do so because he knew that I could be over-zealous at times about evangelism. I truly do admire him for his wisdom and godly influence into the life of his kids and those he ministers to.

Now what I want to apologize for is that I wasn't clear enough about the aim of my critique and caused some people to be offended as they had invested a lot of time and care into the event. I think that we can all agree that the chief aim of the local congregation and hopefully Don Piper as well, was to see the unregenerate saved and the true believer encouraged/edified. There are some who believe that what Don Piper and others like him do is simply done in order to make a name or money for themselves. I am not one of those people. I do not have and never claimed to have the grounds to question Don Piper's motives for doing what he does or his passion for doing so. He, like many other well-meaning Christians make great sacrifices to do what many of us wouldn't dare consider in our cozy American lives. I never want to question someones motives. My critique was solely about the message.

Often times, the more I speak (or in this case write) the more trouble I tend get myself into. So I will leave it at this. I personally love the body of believers that have allowed me to be a part of their fellowship and I am deeply sorry about the personal hurt that I caused in not showing wisdom in my approach to a very important subject. I also suffer from "thick-headedness" and it sometimes takes awhile for me to understand another person's perspective. With that being said, I have removed the post.