DO YOU WALK WITH A LIMP?

Recently I was listening to Steve Harvey. I like Steve Harvey he is a smart man. Lately I have been changing who I listen to, because sometimes their speech does not match how they describe or present themselves. Yes the pot calling the kettle black over here. So long story short Steve has a language issue as in he uses colorful language at time. Now in all honesty that was my worst habit to overcome and it creeps back in at times. One day during filming they went on a break and a lady from the audience said, excuse me Mr. Harvey but how is your walk with the Lord. His reply was I walk tall and proud with the Lord, but I have a limp I can not seem to overcome. Wow, that just really hit me hard. It inspired my entire Wednesday night service, when I filled in for our Pastor who was out of town.

I am not justifying having a limp, however it is true I love the Lord dearly, but I do limp. I have a few ugly words, snappy attitude and perhaps judging others too harshly, without even realizing it. Now I still do not watch or listen to anything that is full of colorful language as it is way to easy for me to pick it back up. I can do that all by myself.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 We read that even Paul had a thorn in his side. He says he was given it to keep him from growing conceited. We are not specifically told what his thorn was. Some say it was an illness, other think it may have been the suffering he endured from other.

I was led to look at my own limp. I wonder do I cause others to stumble in their walk? Even worse do I send them running from our Savior because of my limp.

Jesus requested his disciples to be his witness to the end of the earth. If we are truly disciples of Christ, that is also what we are instructed to do. My scriptures that I take this from are found in Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24: 44-49 and Acts 1:7-8.

In John 15 9-17 Jesus commands us to love one another. So we are instructed to tell of God’s love and his sacrifice. Now stay with me please, even if you do not follow Christ he and I both love you anyway. We are not forced to follow Christ it is a chose we must make for ourselves. I want you to know I can be a follower of Christ and still love someone who is not. I can also love someone who may make choices that I would not make. The current world view is my opinion must be just like your opinion or I am prejudiced, I will agree to disagree. In all honesty what others think of us is none of our business unless what we claim to be does not line up with our actual lives that others see. So, if you are indeed a Christian when is the last time you invited someone to church? When is the last time you truly told someone about Christ, of is love for them, of his sacrifice? I do not mean in your weekly bible study or Sunday school class with your normal group of believers. (They already know) When did you last show someone love even though they may not live exactly as you do?

I am going to bring this bus to the curb, I hope you have stayed with me.

I will end with a few questions for you, and no you do not have to be a Christian. I believe if we are honest most of us no matter our spiritual beliefs may have a limp or two.

Search you heart and souls here.

Do you have a limp that causes you or other to struggle?

Have you driven your family or friends away from you with your thoughts and actions? Do you brag too much, force rules on them, boss them too much? You have a limp.

The limp does not always appear as a problem? Is it possible you are an enabler? Are you enabling someone that would be better off taking responsibility for their own actions. This is very hard to do, especially for parents. (That may be your limp)

I just want to share here, not many were willing to share in an open audience, however I was approached by several after my lesson privately. One person said you know I don’t limp like so and so and I replied. There is your limp, kind of like there’s your sign. She is a wonderful lady full of the love of Christ, she smiled and said exactly.

How do we overcome our limps? First of all we pray and ask God to help us. I must be honest one of my limps is becoming harder to get under control even with prayer. I have asked my BFF to hold me accountable if I can not get a handle on it I have to pay her.

We must also accept that perhaps we have been given a limp in order to learn a lesson. Paul even said he was given a limp to keep him from being conceited. ( Perhaps being conceited is your limp)

Reflect do you have a limp? Is it selfish, is it there to learn from? Is it hurting yourself or other? Do I need help correcting my limp?

I can not answer for you, we all have different limps. I ask you just to see if you have one that needs to be faced head on and sent away. If so, please figure out what you need to do with the limp or in my case limps to improve your life and the life of the ones you love or influence.