One of the highlights of visiting Utah is spending time with my husband’s best friend from fifth grade through their senior year of high school. Did they ever stop being best friends? It doesn’t seem like it when we reunite.
My husband’s friend Scott and his wife Sara started CenterPoint Church in Orem, UT which we attended Sunday. Afterward, we spent hours together alternating huge laughs and ruminating about our country’s problems.
In Scott’s sermons he teaches history, the Bible — and he has a talent to bring the Word alive and make it relevant today.
I know I’m not doing the sermon justice, but here are a few things I’m thinking about days later:
The Pharisees were a sect of ancient Jews who modern Christians view as hypocrites. They were judgmental of Jesus because he spent time with sinners and tax collectors.
Jesus did not operate or think like human beings. He did not care what people thought of him.
We are all sinners and we worry about what other people think of us. Like the Pharisees, we want to present a view to the world that hides our shortcomings and sins — and we can be judgmental of others.
We need to find the Pharisee in the mirror. We get stuck where we are in life because we fear looking deep inside ourselves.
We are created with a hole inside our hearts. Many try to fill that hole with material things, alcohol, drugs, etc. This may satisfy us but it’s temporary. We need to fill the hole with love and The Spirit to be free.
Quotes from the sermon:
“Jesus loves us where we are, but he loves us too much to leave us there.”
“Pride is not thinking too much of yourself. It is thinking about yourself too much.”
If you’re interested in listening to the sermon for yourself and not relying on my bullet points here is a LINK. The sermon starts at 26:12.
What friends from your childhood can you get together with after years after not seeing each other and feel like no time has passed?
What are your thoughts about moving forward in life by not worrying about what other people think?
I have four friends from med school who are like that. Two of them live in Karachi, quite a distance from here and one lives in Norway and the fourth one in England. It’s not likely that we will all be together again in one place but whenever we get a chance to meet each other, we do and it seems no time has passed at all.
That is wonderful. It’s too bad that you are so far apart. We saw Scott more frequently when my daughter was in college in Salt Lake City. Those were a nice four years! Also, they invited her over for every holiday when she couldn’t come home.
I am the luckiest of them as I’ve met them more than others. I often travel to meet my friends from abroad as they come to Islamabad
That’s nice!
It is very nice.
I have been facing the Pharisee in the mirror for some years now. It’s quite a journey of awakening, not particularly pleasant, but the end result is worth it.
It was an entirely new concept to me and it hit home.
I have three friends from college who I rarely see, but we talk every day. It’s awesome. I think you should totally do what makes you happy, regardless of what others think assuming it’s moral and legal…
That’s so nice that you talk everyday with your college friends. I consider one of my college friends, my best friend, but we rarely talk. We do visit each other at least once a year though. I agree with you on being moral and legal and not worry about what others think.
I have friends that regardless of how much time has passed we pick up right where we left off, it’s so refreshing, and heartwarming to be loved like that. I love the take of facing the Pharisee in the mirror, takes courage, and a lot of humility. We’re a work in progress for sure….xxoo, C
Friends like that are priceless. I am trying to get my pharisee to go away, but it takes work!
I have never really cared what people think. If they are real friends, they will accept me as I am.
So true!
Great points abut the Pharisee and I feel as I get older the less I care what people think. The more I know who my real friends are and that they accept me no matter what! My oldest friend is my bestie who I met when we were in 5th grade too! A priceless friendship and yes we pick up from right where we left off no matter how much time has gone by. I am blessed with truly special friendships. <3
That’s wonderful to have your 5th grade friendship. Fortunately, I think we do care less and less what other people think of us as we get older. We care more about our family and friends.
Skipping over the religious drivel (sorry but I think it’s just something else to argue about), I can happily and gratefully report I probably have more old friends like that than new ones. I agree with Cheryl that we’re a work in progress so, parenthetically, I’ll say they practice (more than I do) a wide range of faiths. I listen and learn from all of them and I hope they do the same from me.
I think it’s good to be exposed to different faiths. When my daughter was young, she’d walk to Temple with her best friend’s family. They were Orthodox Jews. Then her friend with go to mass with us on Sundays.