Where The Rubber Meets The Road

So you believe you can somehow skate by through life by being a Christian and yet able to make the the world and those around you happy?  Nope, not going to happen.

"Well, Kris, you have no idea what you are talking about!"
And, you would be right!
But, I do know what God thinks:

Matthew 6:24
Luke 16:13
Galatians 1:10

"Well that is just hate speech!" 
No, it is Jesus' very words and thirty years later, the Apostle Paul's understanding of the same idea!

You can not make God and man happy.  (By the way, that is a PERIOD, not a comma, no further qualifier needed, there is no other discussion ... sorry.)

As Christians, we have the ability to run into this problem constantly.  With the cashier at the grocery store.  With our co-workers and boss.  With our friends.  With our families (oh, HEAVENS!).  With those we care about.

If we interact on a human level, there will be endless troubles.
If we interact on a Christian to human level, disaster is assured.
If we interact as Christian to Christian, as long as that stays true, life is easy.

But, it is hard to keep our guard down and always be a Christian.
It is hard not to slip back into human mode in our dealings with others - and God!
It is hard to be honest with ourselves ...
It is hard to be honest with others ...
It is even harder to be honest with God ...
And God already knows it all but we still think of Him as limited and dumber than us ...

God forgives easily.
We forgive ourselves far more slowly.
The world will never forgive you for stepping on its toes.

I work with some pretty cool Christians.  It is their desire to serve God daily in all they do.  But, they are human and fail big time in their interactions with each other and me.  I am now thought of, not as the new guy, but the one whom is modelling Christian ideals and gifts.  Not because I am so "God-ly" but because I can recognize upfront where my problems are in any situation and come up with a better response based upon what I know of God and how He does things.  No that does not make me the model employee - it makes me the major pain the butt! for all to deal with.  No one actually likes having the bar raised around them.

One of my friends commented last night that, "this bunch of creeps you work with", catch that word - "creeps"?  Yeah, they are so solidly living in the world, by its ideals and standards, that Kris gets stomped on - for actually doing things right!  My co-worker has committed on several occasions at how there is really something wrong in the way God-ly men, as he has known them, respond to me. And, they believe they are the exactly what God is looking for. So, what makes Kris so different ... ?

Yeah, well, by their fruit you shall know them.

It is sad, truly I hope God does correct them because what they started can make a real change in the lives of many ... which Satan does hate.  As I said, without pride earlier, I am nobody, nothing, just someone actually trying - fighting his own humanity, to be more human to those around me.

Cut me and I do bleed, now. 
It was easier when I was not human ...