here is a practical ministry to scripture. The Bible, or scriptural text, is a 'common-sense' guide to everyday life. Often, we, as individuals, seek to have ourselves validated by our family, friends and even employers and peers. The reason is that we oftentimes need to know we are right and that we, as people, are needed and respected. Don't you think it's time you started caring about your reputation with God rather than caring about your reputation with other people? Care about what God thinks, not what your friends and neighbors think. When you say no, don't get talked into a 'yes'. Not everyone will be happy for you if you live in the 'Word' and evil will send people in to turn you from your path and away from God.

There is a common sense to the term, 'ministry," which means to 'be the guide', or 'light' to the path of shared human experience that binds us together. To minister is to share experiences without expectations but within practical guidelines. The common sense of how we would like ourselves to be treated is how we therefore attempt to treat others, but usually our biases fall into play. Christ taught that we should "do unto others as you shall have them do unto you," but there is another turn to this phrase which we often forget to consider, and that is, "do not do to another that which you would not want done to you." Simple, but vastly different. The latter is much more proactive in making the individual responsible for their behaviors, making them think about how they would like to be treated, hence, making the impact on the self more directly undertaken.

On a daily basis, there are people who just don't seem to carry their weight, who pass the buck, are indifferent, or pass the responsibility onto others within a family, a relationship and within the workplace. And don't you just want to stand up and tighten your fists and say, "Hey, what about me! I'm the responsible one!" It doesn't seem fair, does it? How would we minister to those others who don't take responsibility? Even Christ said not to caste pearls before swine, meaning that one should not waste words on those who can not hear them. A bird cannot talk to a rock and a rock can not float on water. To minister is to lead, and lead by example through behavior - not by over-talking, explaining or lecturing. This oftentimes means to recognize that you cannot be accountable for another's behavior or lead them to change their behavior. In the end you can only be responsible for knowing that you have done your best, to live in the word and follow the example of he who came before, the Christ.

When in crisis and conflict, give yourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of 'the word' (Acts 6:4). We are meant to rely on each other and share the accountability for living in the word or as close to it as we can. You cannot do everything and it is not your individual responsibility to do so. When you are confronted with those who do not carry their weight, do not attempt to take it on. Allow them their learning experience and allow them to establish their own dialogue with Christ for no child learns when the parent takes that learning opportunity away from them.

To minister does not mean to preach, but to guide through example, by being steadfast in your faith and spiritual leadership. Do not do things to show other people. Do things under God, expecting no recognition. This fellowship with God will be affirmed to you because you will know spiritually that you are doing the right thing. You can put any bumper sticker on your car, you can hang crosses around your neck and you can carry any Bible under your arm. "Beware of false profits which come in sheep's clothing but inwardly, they are ravening wolves" (Matthew 7:15). One who walks in Christedness energy and is a Christian does not have to announce that they are. Their manner and deeds will shine the light of God and The Holy Spirit on them in recognition of their conduct and others will just know that 'He who Is,' is upon them.

People who are morally upright shame people who are not and naturally so, they become defensive for they knowingly try to deflect their shame by assigning their sense of responsibility to the morally upright. Your conduct verifies the validity of Christ.

You must show your belief in God and Christ through the demonstration of 'his dwelling within you,' by the example of behavior you set forth in daily practice. You must love yourself as a reflection of his image and in so doing treat yourself with the respect that you would give him. This is most difficult for you are aware of the saying, are you not, that you can love the sinner and not the sin? This is a falsehood. For this implies that you are making a judgment, for admittedly you recognize there is a sin. Judgment is a human-kind tendency and is something that you have to be wary of for only God can judge. The Christ died for our sins, and he laid bare his life for the sins, even the sins of omission we manifest from time to time. You must love others as you would love yourself and herein is the problem. Many people have not come to a sense of inner-peace or the acceptance of Christ as ascended-master and savior. If they cannot accept and embrace this premise, this ideological premise, then they cannot accept the responsibility for their behavior or let alone, their accountability.

You must love the sinner and the sin they commit by realization that they are flawed and have not been saved by ascending to a higher awareness and level of enlightenment. The act of breaking a mitzvah, or law, has serious consequences and punishments for which the individual must be held accountable for there are many reasons the actions of a person can be flawed and these can range in explanation. Loving them does not put them in your daily life, but it lets you have a greater sense of compassion. This is where you, the individual, can simply step aside and allow them their learning experience and pray that that they find peace. All you can do is live a morally upright life.

Let us give you this example. Mary was a pure chaste vessel that brought forth The Christedness energy. To embrace this energy and birth, this sense of Christ, you must WORK at purging conflicting thought and error from your belief-system and thoughts. As you work at this, you work at ministering to yourself and by practicing this act of self-purification you are leading through example. "Let no man despise youth, but be an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12). Here we see a young man who was called to work of spirit and God, and who was looked down upon and not taken seriously because of his youth yet he stood in faith and reflected all that was morally right. The phrase: "Let no man despise youth" can refer to age, experience, learnedness and life-experience. It does not refer to youth only in the sense of chronological age. We are also taught, "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine. Continue in them for in doing this you shall both save yourself, and those that hear you." (1 Timothy 4:16).

Through spiritual practice you become stronger in your faith. As you become stronger in your faith you will seek self-validation less frequently. What we forget is that there is a common-sense approach to living in the Word. It does not mean trying to change someone, but it means allowing him or her their journey of self-discovery and what is not harmonious to your belief system is nothing that you have to allow in your daily life. Christ ministered to people as a practice of daily being and those who sought out the light of being came to him, allowing each person to come to his or her own individual level of enlightenment.

So often we, as human-kind people, trapped within a third-dimensional reality and living finite, fixed lives we become trapped, feeling a mix of emotions that remind us how human we really are. We are subject to hurt, anger, feelings of betrayal, and in experiencing these we need to validate, draw alliances and find common-ground with those we think we'd gather strength from. This is where we enter into error and misunderstandings. No one other person can validate you for no other person feels and experiences what you do. It is in these times you need to turn to prayer and find solace within yourself. Through this deeper form of mediation and private communion with God you can find the answers you search for.