Good morning everyone. Grace and peace be with you.
Have you ever been in a situation where you ‘really’ wanted to speak out to a person about what they did? What they said about you? The attitude that they have when you are not with them verses the attitude they have when you are with them. When you really just wanted to be heard and put them on notice that you are aware of their true self? No finesse. No tact. No political correctness. Absolute matter of factness that they hurt you. Maybe not physically, but in trust.
How did you handle that situation?
When I find myself there, my inner ‘I will show you’ starts their motor running and revving their engine for full steam ahead. But … but then I realize that Jesus … how many times did he get hurt by the very people who were supposed to guiding the lost? How many times was he spoken poorly of when not in their presence? How many times did they try and trap him, and he countered with simple truth…not hostility.
The inner hostility of making someone pay for what they have done is the enemy. “I have a right to be heard” “They can’t do that and get away with it” “I will show them”. Do those items sound familiar? They are very familiar to me. Or the one that I battle with a lot, ‘I am on the side of the truth, you are not telling it, so let me enlighten you’. But my motive isn’t true enlightenment and love, it is bitterness and contempt. Last time I checked, Jesus was neither of those things. If I am truly trying to live in His image, I must live in His steps of conflict resolution.
Many say that ‘don’t forget the tipping of the tables’. They are right, but why did he tip the tables? He tipped them because they desecrated His Father’s house, not because someone talked behind his back.
Is there a time when you have to tip tables, absolutely…however the enemy would have you to believe that is every time someone hurts you. That is not the case. We are to forgive them. We are to love them. We are to be their Light example. Our walk is not to be as smooth as a newly paved road, but an old-pitted gravel road with potholes the size of whatever state you live in. We are supposed to fall down and scrape our knee, look at the wound and learn…and grow. If I corrected everyone whoever spoke ill of me, in the manner in which I felt at the time, I would not be a particularly good Light example. I have an exceptionally ugly temper. It has hurt a lot of people whom I felt wronged me and had to pay. For that I am deeply sorry and if you were one of them, I sincerely apologize.
Today as you walk through your day, as you get ‘hurt’, as you hear the gossip about you, go to Him and ask him to guide your next steps. If He tells you to leave it … then you really need to leave it. Let them have their little victory and go on about your peace. Their thought of getting away with something is no comparison to the peace you will lose if you confront them. Peace. Love. Joy. Forgiveness. Mercy. Grace. Six words to live by. Today I will do my best to exercise those words. The six most important words of my daily routine. Truth exposes itself. It does not need our help. We just need to exercise patience.
Be blessed today my friends.
***Listen to me; you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” –Isaiah 49:1-3
Have you ever been in a situation where you ‘really’ wanted to speak out to a person about what they did? What they said about you? The attitude that they have when you are not with them verses the attitude they have when you are with them. When you really just wanted to be heard and put them on notice that you are aware of their true self? No finesse. No tact. No political correctness. Absolute matter of factness that they hurt you. Maybe not physically, but in trust.
How did you handle that situation?
When I find myself there, my inner ‘I will show you’ starts their motor running and revving their engine for full steam ahead. But … but then I realize that Jesus … how many times did he get hurt by the very people who were supposed to guiding the lost? How many times was he spoken poorly of when not in their presence? How many times did they try and trap him, and he countered with simple truth…not hostility.
The inner hostility of making someone pay for what they have done is the enemy. “I have a right to be heard” “They can’t do that and get away with it” “I will show them”. Do those items sound familiar? They are very familiar to me. Or the one that I battle with a lot, ‘I am on the side of the truth, you are not telling it, so let me enlighten you’. But my motive isn’t true enlightenment and love, it is bitterness and contempt. Last time I checked, Jesus was neither of those things. If I am truly trying to live in His image, I must live in His steps of conflict resolution.
Many say that ‘don’t forget the tipping of the tables’. They are right, but why did he tip the tables? He tipped them because they desecrated His Father’s house, not because someone talked behind his back.
Is there a time when you have to tip tables, absolutely…however the enemy would have you to believe that is every time someone hurts you. That is not the case. We are to forgive them. We are to love them. We are to be their Light example. Our walk is not to be as smooth as a newly paved road, but an old-pitted gravel road with potholes the size of whatever state you live in. We are supposed to fall down and scrape our knee, look at the wound and learn…and grow. If I corrected everyone whoever spoke ill of me, in the manner in which I felt at the time, I would not be a particularly good Light example. I have an exceptionally ugly temper. It has hurt a lot of people whom I felt wronged me and had to pay. For that I am deeply sorry and if you were one of them, I sincerely apologize.
Today as you walk through your day, as you get ‘hurt’, as you hear the gossip about you, go to Him and ask him to guide your next steps. If He tells you to leave it … then you really need to leave it. Let them have their little victory and go on about your peace. Their thought of getting away with something is no comparison to the peace you will lose if you confront them. Peace. Love. Joy. Forgiveness. Mercy. Grace. Six words to live by. Today I will do my best to exercise those words. The six most important words of my daily routine. Truth exposes itself. It does not need our help. We just need to exercise patience.
Be blessed today my friends.
***Listen to me; you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” –Isaiah 49:1-3
Good morning everyone. Grace and peace be with you.
Have you ever been in a situation where you ‘really’ wanted to speak out to a person about what they did? What they said about you? The attitude that they have when you are not with them verses the attitude they have when you are with them. When you really just wanted to be heard and put them on notice that you are aware of their true self? No finesse. No tact. No political correctness. Absolute matter of factness that they hurt you. Maybe not physically, but in trust.
How did you handle that situation?
When I find myself there, my inner ‘I will show you’ starts their motor running and revving their engine for full steam ahead. But … but then I realize that Jesus … how many times did he get hurt by the very people who were supposed to guiding the lost? How many times was he spoken poorly of when not in their presence? How many times did they try and trap him, and he countered with simple truth…not hostility.
The inner hostility of making someone pay for what they have done is the enemy. “I have a right to be heard” “They can’t do that and get away with it” “I will show them”. Do those items sound familiar? They are very familiar to me. Or the one that I battle with a lot, ‘I am on the side of the truth, you are not telling it, so let me enlighten you’. But my motive isn’t true enlightenment and love, it is bitterness and contempt. Last time I checked, Jesus was neither of those things. If I am truly trying to live in His image, I must live in His steps of conflict resolution.
Many say that ‘don’t forget the tipping of the tables’. They are right, but why did he tip the tables? He tipped them because they desecrated His Father’s house, not because someone talked behind his back.
Is there a time when you have to tip tables, absolutely…however the enemy would have you to believe that is every time someone hurts you. That is not the case. We are to forgive them. We are to love them. We are to be their Light example. Our walk is not to be as smooth as a newly paved road, but an old-pitted gravel road with potholes the size of whatever state you live in. We are supposed to fall down and scrape our knee, look at the wound and learn…and grow. If I corrected everyone whoever spoke ill of me, in the manner in which I felt at the time, I would not be a particularly good Light example. I have an exceptionally ugly temper. It has hurt a lot of people whom I felt wronged me and had to pay. For that I am deeply sorry and if you were one of them, I sincerely apologize.
Today as you walk through your day, as you get ‘hurt’, as you hear the gossip about you, go to Him and ask him to guide your next steps. If He tells you to leave it … then you really need to leave it. Let them have their little victory and go on about your peace. Their thought of getting away with something is no comparison to the peace you will lose if you confront them. Peace. Love. Joy. Forgiveness. Mercy. Grace. Six words to live by. Today I will do my best to exercise those words. The six most important words of my daily routine. Truth exposes itself. It does not need our help. We just need to exercise patience.
Be blessed today my friends.
***Listen to me; you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” –Isaiah 49:1-3
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