A minister pleasantly surprised his congregation by delivering a 10-minute sermon instead of the usual 30-minute message. In concluding he explained, “I regret to inform you all that my dog, who appears to be very fond of paper, this morning ate a large portion of my sermon. That is all for a sermon today. Let us pray.”
After the service, a stranger from another church, approached the pastor and said, “Preacher, please let me know if that dog of yours has puppies. If it does, I want to buy one for my minister.”
When I was in my teens my parents made me go to church. I found it uneventful and, for lack of better words, boring. The older I got, I started realizing that I was beginning to learn and enjoy church. Our Pastor was a funny guy, but when he got serious I would turn him off. I didn’t need anyone telling me how to live my life. I for sure didn’t need some guy telling me all I was doing wrong. I felt like going to church was God telling me everything I COULDN’T do. A bunch of dos and don’ts.
I had someone break this down for me…a simple understanding of why God wanted me to stay away from certain things. It was simple…He was wanting to protect me. It seemed that everything I started reading from the Bible was for love and protection. I stopped feeling like God was being shoved down my throat. I started seeing God as a Loving Father. One that wants the best out of me. I started expecting the same from myself after a while. I wasn’t anymore perfect or better than before, but I started seeing things from a better and different light. If I listen to what the Bible encourages me to do, I didn’t hurt myself as much. That became a giant thing to me after a while. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy.
I started listening to what our Pastor was talking about and applied it to my life. It started paying off. Some of the ways I was hurting myself started fading away. Again, I wasn’t anymore perfect…but I was doing what God intended me to do. LISTEN!
When I listened, I learned…when I learned, I started applying what I had learned. In the end, it made me a better person and kept me from hurting myself or others ...
