Love you all, praying for you,
Have you ever been surprisingly wrong? Zealously incorrect? Vehemently mistaken? Proverbs 19:2 – Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark. Have you ever discovered that something you were most insistent about was incorrect, not what you thought? I remember an experience when I was younger that changed me permanently. I don’t remember all the details, but the feelings have never left me. I had a younger brother who at the discovery of an infraction of some kind, perhaps it was something missing, seemed the likely suspect. Convinced that he was guilty, I confronted him with all of the moral superiority I could muster. He folded like a book, got all flustered, got red in the face, started laughing, and I knew I had caught him! And then, to my complete shock, it was later discovered that he was not the one who did it. I had never been so unsettled in all my life. It so threw me, I couldn’t get my mind around it. I was so sure he was guilty, he acted guilty, he proved it by his reaction. No... he didn’t act guilty, he acted nervous because of the attention I brought to bear on him, but he wasn’t guilty – later evidence proved that conclusively. I just couldn’t believe I could have been that wrong on that. But I was. Have you ever missed something? Or stood firm, on the wrong thing? What are you zealous about? What are you convinced of? I’m not talking about God, or God’s Word, I’m talking about opinion or preference versus principle. Well intended belief which lacks fact or evidence. Maybe – the belief that - if I do this, or in this way, God will do that, and do it that way, the way I want Him to. Or maybe, I’m right and they’re wrong. We’re not talking about 'not standing for something'. The quote has some truth to it… 'If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.' This is about those things that are not fully conclusive at this time, or even more – not to the level of moral, ethical, or successful significance that we assume them to be. Romans 14:1 – Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. The passage goes on, but it instructs clearly. Don’t make molehills into mountains. Don’t confuse preference and principle. So how do you guard yourself from being convincingly incorrect? vehemently mistaken, zealously ignorant? First, it starts with humility, (Obey God, no matter what, and prefer others over yourself.) Second, choose to believe the best – even if they are wrong, you’ve been mistaken yourself… Love covers over a multitude of wrongs. And Third, let God handle it. He will bring everything to light in His time, and most of the time, it’s not who’s the most right that matters, it’s how we love one another that most demonstrates who we belong to. Praying that God may even lead you to use the PiVAT Decision Tool – to check yourself on some things you do or believe - by sifting the decision. Should I continue to believe or do this? Paul spent his life hunting down Christians and putting them in jail, until a light from Heaven knocked him off of his horse? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you Lord? I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting. Sometimes we have to become blind before we can see. Paul was convinced he was doing the right thing, he thought he was defending God, as if God needed defended, only to find out that he was opposing him. Praying that your zeal and beliefs and actions will always be humble, prayerful, loving, and flexible on all things which are flexible, and only firm on those things which God has made unchangeable. Praying that God will grant you the ability to discern the difference, the intellectual honesty to evaluate yourself, and the humility to not judge others, but to love them. Prayer is the key. If you ask God, He will lead you by His Spirit into all truth, He will even show you things to come. Love you all, dad
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