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Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. 1 Peter 2:12
Years ago I had two girls that attended the youth group I led. One of the girls came from a great Christian home and the other came from a home was full of hate and anger. The girl from the stable home, I’ll call her Jill, was best friends with Mary (also not her real name).
Jill’s parents shared with me their concern with this friendship. Mary had a temper and quite often, in a fit of rage would say things hurtful to Jill and, on a couple occasions, actually hit her. Mom & dad wanted this friendship to end for the safety of their daughter and came to me to see if I could help.
I agreed to talk with Jill. What she said to me has stuck with me all these years, Jill said, “Mary doesn’t have a single friend in the whole school. If I’m not her friend she has no body. Jesus was the friend of many who hated him. I need to be a friend to Mary.”
The story has a positive ending thankfully. Through Jill’s patient endurance and the prayer of many, eventually Mary found Jesus. She’s been married for many years in a Christ-filled home thanks to the patient and positive influence of one person who refused to give up on her.
We can’t always choose whose life God calls us to be a positive influence in. We are never called to put ourselves in danger. Yet through wisdom, patience and prayer we can see even the hardest heart softened by the Holy Spirit.
Be careful not to get sucked into the negativity of a toxic relationship. Yet, at the same time, don’t be afraid to trust the Holy Spirit to change lives through you!
My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help. This I know: God is on my side! Psalms 56:9
Sometimes scripture is more meaningful if we read it in reverse. For example, Psalm 56:9 says, “My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help…”
So, what happens in the opposite? What happens when I don’t call on the Lord for help. Then what happens to my enemies? They attack of course!
How many times are we in battle with an enemy and grow weary in the fighting simply because we haven’t called for support from our God? Jesus says the enemy is intent on killing and destroying us emotionally, spiritually, perhaps even physically.
Sociologists tell us that when we are in battle we have two main options, fight or flight. I suggest that for us as believers we have a third option. We can fight, but the enemy is too strong. We can flee, but reality is the battles most of us are in run faster than we do. When fighting isn’t possible and running isn’t reasonable try calling.
Our God is just waiting in the wings to give aid. The enemy scoffs at our futile attempts to defeat him, but when he sees God in his power he flees. Don’t fight battles you were never intended to fight. Give them over to the one who will fight for you.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts“ Isaiah 55:8-9
We live in age where knowledge is increasing at an amazing rate. According to one study, the rate of ‘knowledge volume’ increases every 12 hours, compared to doubling every 25 years in 1945! That boggles my mind!
One of my favorite movies is Apollo 13. It’s amazing to realize that crisis happened before computers as we know them. My cell phone has more power than anything they had back then, yet they put men on the moon!
While the increase of knowledge on the human realm is amazing, what’s more amazing is that no matter how much knowledge we gain on the human level, nothing compares to the knowledge God has.
When Job was questioning why God had allowed his trials, God responded with several questions for Job to answer. Job was speechless as he thought of the immensity of God’s knowledge and power. People have been trying to figure God out since we left the Garden of Eden and with all the knowledge we’ve gained since then, we are no closer to understanding the immensity of our God.
Psalms 135:6 reminds us that “The Lord does whatever pleases him throughout all heaven and earth, and on the seas and in their depths.”
We can question, but we may never understand. God will do as he pleases. His actions may never be understood. But his plan is always for our good. Rather than trying to understand God, work to know Him better. Rather than question what you are going through, seek to see what you can learn.
His methods may not be pleasant, but the results will eventually work out for your good.
But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. 1 Peter 3:16
We live in a world of fear. Fear shows itself in a variety of ways. Hate, hopelessness, Anger, frustration, despair,, revenge and confusion are just a few ways we deal with our fear.
Most times, if not always, fear happens because the things being done to us, or the things happening around us are out of our control. Our reaction to fear is often an attempt to regain control.
When you believe in a Sovereign God, and live in that truth you are, in a very real sense, giving up that control because you realize your God is in ultimate control. Because of faith you can relinquish control to a loving, sovereign God.
Another thing happens when you live in the shadow of a sovereign God, your hope and faith is seen by those around you, and quite frankly it’s a little hard for them to figure out!
Peter writes to a people in perilous times. In his day, there was open season on Christ-followers. Yet he encourages them to live in faith and hope, and when others question us about our hope we are called on to answer in a respectful, gentle way. No judgment. No hellfire and brimstone. No verbal abuse. Peter was a firey guy. Yet he calls us to gentleness, as does Paul and Jesus.
Our hope will speak more loudly when we live lives in gentleness and respect. Remember, it’s God’s Spirit that wins people to Jesus, not clever arguments, judgmental attitudes or anger.
Author Jerry Bridges states, “Both gentleness and meekness are born of power, not weakness. There is a pseudo-gentleness that is effeminate, and there is a pseudo-meekness that is cowardly. But a Christian is to be gentle and meek because those are Godlike virtues… We should never be afraid, therefore, that the gentleness of the Spirit means weakness of character. It takes strength, God’s strength, to be truly gentle.”
Ask Holy Spirit to guide you into gentleness.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 