Thursday, June 17, 2010

What Makes You Rant? Pt 2

Is it poor customer service?
The environment or politics?
Wasted government money?
Is it the lack of care for hurting people you see?
Is it when people who could have a good life make poor choices and destroy their lives?
Is it when the church is dead, boring and irrelevant to society?
Is it the emptiness that people experience without Christ in their lives?
Is it the glory of God?

Whatever it is, it would be good to get clarity on it. Maybe even decide if it is something worth being bothered about. Some "rants" are more noble than others. Once you pick one or two things that you can authentically rant about...find ways to rant that add value. Don't just rant just because you are mad or critical; be careful of ranting in a way that turns people off. Rant in such a way that people will listen and that it will genuinely make a positive difference. (I am sure that's a Bible verse somewhere in the Message version) 

You have a unique rant that our world needs.

In our church we have some people passionate about prayer; they would like us to pray more and more and more and more. We have others passionate about evangelism; they would like to us do more and more and more of that. We have some people passionate about social justice; they would like us to do more and more and more of that. The list goes on (the Word, worship, friendships, discipleship, love, unity, marriage and family etc., etc., etc.)... and we need each of these people to appropriately hold up the value of their passion.

We also need to listen to and receive value from each other's rants.