"If You Do What Is Right, Will You Not Be Accepted? But If You Do Not Do What Is Right, Sin Is Crouching At Your Door; It Desires To Have You, But You Must Rule Over It."
Genesis 4:7
I am not above criticism, not here, nor in my day to day living, and the past two years have taught me to find a way to either rise above it or turn around and walk away.
I have had numerous emails from people who don't like what I write here, who don't, either understand or who don't agree and I am trying to learn how to not take everything, everyone says to me personally.
I used to have a hard time holding my tongue, however conviction sets in right away, before I can respond and I have learned that it is better to not respond at all than it is to respond unkindly.
That isn't to say I do it all the time, because I don't.
I get aggravated, I get angry, I have minimal tolerance for a few things, and yes, there are days when even He can't hold my tongue and I say things in the heat of the moment and at that time, I feel better, yet a few hours later, guilt kicks in, because I know better, I know that isn't how He would respond, I know two wrongs don't make a right and I know I let Him down by choosing to open that door, instead of turning to Him.
Each opportunity you have to react with another human being is not always going to be happy, happy, joy, joy.
Someone may be having a bad day or a bad month or just be feeling off.
Some may be harboring painful hurts from their past, scared to release them, afraid that if they let them go, they may not know who they are anymore.
They have allowed their past to control their present and will take every chance possible to make sure everyone around them knows how horrible their life is, how it always has been and how it always will be and nothing will ever change for them.
Because they won't allow the change to take affect.
They carry that corpse (as G says) everywhere, a bitter reminder of the turning point in their life.
Instead of allowing the trials and tribulations of life to be a chance to grow into someone stronger, more secure in themselves, they carry it and harbor the hurt instead of releasing it to the One who can take all past hurts and turn them into something beautiful.
Maybe they don't believe, perhaps scared of what He can truly do, if allowed.
I say this, because I received the following message on FB (after an app I have, posted the first part) ~ Word for word (though I did blank out the curse words)...
On this day, God wants you to know
... that acceptance brings peace. Accept your own beauty and your limitations. No sense in trying to be who you are not... Response ~ "now this makes me sooooooooooo ******* ANGRY. **** GOD AND **** HIS ACCEPTANCE................
My first thought was "How dare this person speak to me like this", followed very quickly with "How can I help this person?"
The way I see it, He guided her to my page, to read what was posted, she responded in a way that shows me she is hurting and it is my job to reach out ~ And that is exactly what I told her in my response to her comment.
I used to delete the mean emails that came through, only because I would be so upset that someone didn't like me, now if one comes through, I will take the time to respond as He wants me to.
I can still remember how I would have used to respond, how I would try to beat someone at their own game, calling names, cursing, basically acting like a spoiled brat because I just couldn't back down.
However, I am no longer that person.
I have said it before and I will say it again, you can not follow Him, want blessings from Him showered down upon you all day long, pray only during the bad times, never give thanks during the good times and still live the life you want to live.
You can't go to the clubs on Friday and Saturday night, roll into Church on Sunday morning with a hangover and expect Him to bless you abundantly.
You can't break every one of the Ten Commandments and think all is going to work out peachy keen in your life.
I am sorry, I just don't believe that is how He works.
In order to be in His will, you have got to be out of your own, and if you are not out of your own, there are consequences that will fall upon you.
Matthew 16:24-26 ~ Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"
Did her comment hurt my feelings? Knowing that, once again, someone out there didn't like something I posted?
No.
What hurt me, was knowing, right now, at this moment in time, somewhere out there, a child of His needs Him and they don't even know it.
HILLSONG
I'm Living For This Cause
I Lay Down My Life Into Your Hands
I'm Living For The Truth
The Hope Of The World, In You I'll Stand
