Do you not remember just how pro-David Miller I once was? I Defended you and took a great deal of abuse for that defense.
Of course I remember how the Lord used you to defend me in a very similar misunderstanding involving other people. However, if you were doing this because you were "pro-David Miller," that would have been an inappropriate motive. Perhaps this is why we are where we are today. God does not want you or anyone else being "pro-David Miller." Our eyes need to be on the Lord only. We are but clay vessels that are used from time to time for the Master's purpose. You know these things already.
John Smithson wrote:
And, for a while, the idiot followed me to this forum.
This line with the "idiot" word is the primary reason that I am responding to this post. Please do not call a fellow believer in the Lord an idiot. Do you not realize how dangerous this is (e.g., Mat. 5:22)?
Moreoever, you are, perhaps, the one who chimes in the loudest in blasting others like me and Izzy for being offensive, but you cannot see how your own language and attitude far surpasses anything I have ever written. Where have I called you or anyone else an idiot? I am longsuffering with you because I realize that you do not know what you are doing. At the same time, I would be derelict in my love for you if I did not try and communicate with you precisely in what way my heart grieves when you speak this way. Furthermore, what is before my mind is how people like Izzy might tire of your blindness and would leave the list because the abuse they receive from you causes them to respond in similar fashion only to be rebuked by those same people for following that example.
Jonathan characterized my corrective posts as "giving a piece of my mind." Such is very far from the truth. It gives me no pleasure to speak in this way. I speak correctively in as meek a manner as I know how without just forgetting about it. Could I do it in a better and more edifying way? Certainly. I give it my best but I am always growing and hopefully will do better as I mature.
John Smithson wrote:
And look where we are today. How does one who was quite taken with you -- that would be me -- get on your wrong side? Keep saying that it is all Smithson's fault and you will never know.
I don't blame you for anything in regards to the lack of love that you have towards me. I know that it is very difficult to love someone who tells you that you are wrong about something. Know this, however, that while you think we are opposites and you think that I disagree with about 90% of what you write, my perspective is very different. I do not consider us opposites, and I think that I agree with about 90 to 95% of what you write. It is that small fraction where there are wrinkles that I sometimes work on. It is my calling.
I know that for many people, while they might not go outside with clothing on that has a spot, they might allow a wrinkle. They figure nobody really cares, or maybe it will come out over time on its own. God does not have this attitude. He is coming for a bride without spot or wrinkle. Therefore, he places some in the body to work on the perfection of the body of Christ. Some people think the wrinkles are trivial and don't need to be addressed. God thinks otherwise. So he finds some lowly clay vessels, garbage men if you will, someone who has no reputation and nothing to lose to do the dirty work. He bypasses the pastors and clergy, he bypasses the great theologians, and he chooses the insignificant guy on the street who would rather go fishing. We who do this are discarded by those who become pressed to seek God out in a deeper way because of what we have said to them. We are vilified, but they are praised. We decrease, but they increase. We become the dung of the earth in their eyes, but they become the rose of the earth and the apple of God's eye. No wonder our Lord taught us that he that would save his life would lose it. Our joy is seeing others prosper and getting out those wrinkles that they had always considered to be trivial and unimportant.
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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