who knew?

So, I was sitting here in my office around 8 am, trying to figure out a way to motivate myself to get started on some very important work. We'll, let's be honest, it can't be that important. Regardless, I started searching through podcasts on my iTunes and was listening to the most recent Catalyst podcast, when Steven Furtick was suddenly speaking through my computer. See, Pastor Steve grew up close to where I grew up...the Low Country of SC. We went to rival high schools, though we didn't know each other. Actually, I'd never heard of Pastor Steve until I went to church with my cousin Lindsey in Charlotte. She's been attending Elevation church..a relatively new church that is growing by leaps and bounds.

So, I googled Pastor Steve to see what's been going on. I mean, I figured that he's been moving up the ladder of notoriety to be included on a Catalyst Podcast. And, what I found was actually alarming. There were several blogs and articles dismantling Pastor Steve. And, I'm not sure if I'm either naive or taking things out of context, but there just seems to be too much hatred and disdain among Christians towards other Christians.

Let me relate this back to what I've been reading and learning. We (the Church--the one that Jesus died for) love to condemn others. I think it makes us feel better. And, please notice that I'm using the first person plural here. We (I'm stand with my brothers and sisters in guilt) thrive in hate and are void in love. True love is lost in our generation. I see it propelled in the media. Our society feeds on the weaknesses of others. And, hatred among brothers and sisters in Christ weakens our call from our precious Lord. If you don't like the message that someone is preaching, then by all means, go to another church.

Sometimes, it seems that we feel the need to complicate things and make them harder. I feel like Jesus made the message simple enough so that all can understand. I'm going to go and listen to the Beatles song "All We Need is Love."