How to Hug a Vampire

This week, we begin a new series: How to Hug A Vampire-Loving the People Who Suck the Life Out of Us.  All of us have relationships that have a tendency to drain our goodness, grace, and generosity.  Sometimes it is the people at work or that we randomly encounter, but it can even be within our families!  Certainly, one solution is to completely cut this person from our lives, but is this what Christ wants us to do?  Maybe…maybe not!  This is precisely the problem and confusion with these relationships.  Yet, if our spirit is filled with anger and we are drained of any goodness toward this person, it generally doesn’t end well!  How do we counter the toxic nature of the world?  We are not the first Christians to confront this problem! James the Apostle writes a letter to all of the Christians of his time because they had become so toxic in their behavior!  How he begins this letter gives us the title of the first sermon: Clarity.  James 1:1-8 is trying to create a clarity for these struggling Christians to help them find the strength to love others!   As you read these words, let the Holy Spirit show you the path to wholeness and fullness in your life to overcome the drain of our toxic world! James 1:1-8: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. (NIV)