Come As You Are

1 Peter 2:9

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

So the way it normally works, or at least the way it worked for me and a lot of other followers of the Word is, once you accept Christ as Savior and Lord of your life, there comes self examination.
 

It’s always good to have people of the Word in your circle.

Those who truly have Christ in their heart.

Because when you have that peer group, that congregation of Believers in your life, they will help you grow.

I’m not saying you’ve got to put everybody in your business, I’m just saying that we are all helped by different perspective from time to time. Especially when it’s powered by the same Lord.

When I accepted Christ as Savior and Lord of my life , I had a LOT of stuff I grudgingly realized needed to be cleaned up.

Some folks realize this immediately upon their awakening. Others kinda ignore it until that hypocrisy buzzer starts humming for all the stuff they're asking God to do for them, but yet they aren't doing half the stuff God asks them to do (or not do).

It’s kinda like doing a spring cleaning and packing boxes of stuff and clutter and throwing it out in the trash or giving it away.  Some stuff may just need to be burned. You don’t  want to have any part of that demon falling into someone else’s spirit.

Videos, dvd’s, backup phones with numbers I knew I didn’t need to call anymore…trashed.

I had a couple items I gave to friends who I knew were still into that particular lifestyle. It wasn’t that I thought it was necessarily a bad thing, but the Book I had sworn to says that I couldn’t put anything before Him and I must abide by the laws of the land. 

God help me.

It was one particular piece of paraphanelia that I even circled back into the trash and retrieved.  I changed my mind, I  wasn’t ready to give THAT up yet. I’ll just keep it on the down low and don’t let nobody except my wife know.

Instead of doing it every day like I used to, I’ll just do it some weekends, holidays, funerals or Z-Ro concerts.

Shh…don’t tell nobody.

Of course, you’ve also got to be careful of who you share your life journey with.

Huh? Whatchu mean you don’t want a shot of tequila? You done got holy holy on me D?

Holy Holy? (smiling) Mane..I’m just saying I’m good. I don’t need to drink every time we kick it.

Mmmhmm…don’t let me find out you done started your own church or something. You turning into one of them Clipyo Dolla dudes?

Man, we’re here..we’re having a good conversation, we’re playing dominoes, you’re free to drink anything you want to, I’m not tripping. But why is it so important to you that I drink with you?

Cuz.. you used to drink a fifth worth of shots with me! Seeing you drinking lemonade …hell you ain’t even drinking lemonade you drinking water with lemon! Man…this is weird. You kinda freaking me out.

(laughing) Why??

Because you one of the wildest dudes I know and if that Book you keep reading will make a wild dude like you start acting kinda right…I dunno mane. It’s weird.

I agree. It's very peculiar.