Saturday, September 10, 2011

Honesty with Grace

Remember the movie Liar, Liar?  When the main character gets trapped in some crazy time period when he can only tell the truth everywhere he goes?  It gets him into alot of trouble, but sometimes it helps him. 

I think we need to pursue being women of truth with grace....God's grace. In my mind, being a woman of truth doesn't mean we need to wander this earth spouting out everything we know to be true without tact, direction, purpose or understanding. I think you'd agree with me on that. We need to be women of Truth.  The Truth.  God's Word is the Truth. Jesus Christ said "I am the way, the truth and the life."  He wants us to KNOW His Word and live it out in our lives with understanding and wisdom.  He wants us to be full of truth in everything.  Yes, sometimes, even with grace, being women of truth is gonna rub people the wrong way, but I pray the Lord will be with us in those moments and help us by His Holy Spirit to still bring peace and comfort to the situation in some way.

Remember that song for a Kodak commercial YEARS ago that said, "I see your true colors, shining through. I see your true colors, shining through.  Don't be afraid to let them show."  Let us allow the true colors of the love of God shine forth in our lives.

Women of truth with grace will love genuinely, cling to what is good, seek peace and pursue it.
Psalm 34:14  "Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it."

What do you have to add to these thoughts I have written today?

Concluding thoughts of Romans 12:9

Okay, obviously I haven't been able to blog as often as I'd like.  It's almost once a week now that I get to sit down and right what I've been thinking about.  Not cool.  I want to blog my thoughts more frequently. Hopefully I can get some more self discipline in this area of my life. ha!  Here are the thoughts I have about the first part of Romans 12:9 "abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good." Hating (or to abhor) what is evil is a statement that can be taken in several ways, however, I'm just going to say this about it.

I am sure most of us Christians have spent ample time looking at other peoples' "evil" and making judgement calls on it.  But I think this verse in Romans is telling me to look daily into my own life....to pursue the good in things and hate the evil in me (whether that be thoughts and/or actions). I know I am totally capable of being evil (ungodly) each and every day just as much as the next person.  I mean, without Jesus as our Savior, each one of us will only do what we think is best for us.....and sometimes what we think is best for us hurts other people or dishonors our Creator....thus the whole evil thing comes into play. Sooo, I think this verse is talking to me (at least this is what I'm getting out of this verse in this stage of my life) about being aware of what I allow into my heart and head each day. 

What do I allow into my life that is not honoring to God should be a question I ask myself every once in awhile.  Here, I'll say it this way, what do I allow to take root in my mind and heart that is dishonoring to God and His Son Jesus Christ?  I think we need to hate evil in that way.  Seeing what is in our lives that provokes us to dishonor God our beautiful Maker and King is necessary in knowing the difference between what is good and what is evil.  We NEED to know the difference between them. We can't just assume as Christians that we will always choose what is good in each situation (DUH!), but we need to test things, continue to put Christ first in our decisions each day (another DUH statement). These thoughts are for me from me, but if you're resonating with it too, awesome! haha!
 
All this sounds exhausting. It's late at night as I write this, so that explains the craziness of my writing skills. However, getting back to it, I think if we are "clinging to what is good" and since the main thing....rather Someone who is always good is Jesus Christ this will help us in knowing the difference.
I want to cling to Christ and his ways; learn what He says about how to live and follow those ways.  Those ways lead to peace, hope, light, truth.  Anything outside of God's ways is most obviously the opposite of good.

Okay, I'm done rambling.  I just know I need to start with looking at my own life first when it comes to the statement of "hating what is evil".  Start with cleaning house in my own mind and heart with God's strength and guidance.  Then living each day having a regular routine of cleaning up my mind and heart so that evil stuff.....thoughts or whatever... won't end up taking root in my life. 

I was reading Psalm 119 this week.  It is such a LONG chapter in the Bible and kind of repetitive. However, it is so amazingly chalked full of requests that King David made to God for his heart to want the ways of God instead of the ways of the wicked.  One verse stuck out to me that I will leave you with:
"Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways."  Psalm 119:36-37

Peace.