The Well
The Well |
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Connecting Hope to the Hurting | |
Saturday
May 3, 2008
"My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in
your heart, for they will give you a long and satisfying life. Never let loyalty
and kindness get away from you! Wear them like a necklace; write them deep
within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you
will gain a good reputation."
Proverbs 3:1-4
God cares what people think about us. It is important that we have a good reputation and according to His Word we will have a good reputation if we operate our lives based on what is important to His heart and we will find what is important to His heart in His Word.
Light years ago I thought that I didn't want to live a long life. I can remember thinking ahead to the year 2000 and realizing that in October of that year I would be fifty. Now, that was an age that was beyond my comprehension. I couldn't imagine being able to be myself at the age of fifty. I based my understanding on the people in my life who were that age and most of them were miserable.
My family was severely dysfunctional. My mother and her sisters were always in a battle. You were either loyal to one or the other, but you could not be loyal to all of them. Sad ¾ huh? Well, just the other night I realized that I had inherited some of my mother's dysfunctional attitudes.
Several years ago, when my youngest daughter first started going through a very difficult time, she felt the best thing for her to do was leave Birmingham and go live with my stepsister. She had made some wrong choices and those wrong choices had broken her. She was definitely not the young lady everyone in the family had grown to love and cherish, she was wild. In any event, when she made this decision, I was extremely disappointed.
Many, many years earlier, Sheila made a conscious decision to turn away from the Lord. She made some choices that were not best for herself, her family, and she chose to be loyal to those decisions ¾ not a good example for anyone to follow, in my opinion. So, I told Jessica, in no uncertain terms, if she elected to go there that she would have to accept the consequences ¾ our relationship would be severed.
We must be careful about who, what, and where our loyalties lie. There are many people like Sheila today. They made a definite decision to go against God and have bound themselves to the lie. Instead of standing in judgment against them like I have, we must love them no matter what that might cost us. I admit that doing that is easier said that done.
To my surprise, this ended up being a good thing. Yes, she learned some things about me I had rather she hadn't learned (some true…some not true), but in the long run they told her the same things I had told her, and my sister and I grew closer because of it.
When our loyalty is to God and loving people His way, eventually we will find favor with them and even possibly lead them back to the Kingdom. Let's try it.
Father, I confess that I was wrong in the way I handled Jessica. I pray that You will provide me an opportunity to right that wrong. Help us know the right thing to say at the right time without reverting back to the old teaching from our childhood. We need You Lord.
