Being hasty in our conversations with others, failure to restrain
from assumptions and words that we want to say, anger that flairs up when we
get our feelings hurt and not being on our guard spiritually can do more damage
in relationships than any other thing. When our moments become moments that are
all about us moments and we fail to see the real issues, we are missing out on
opportunities to be Christ to others. But, when we model the Lord’s behaviors,
we become more loving, more willing to sacrifice our rights, seeing a little
more of how God may be looking at the situation and we can be a great blessing
to others, instead of what they may perceive as being a thorn. Letting go of
those moments of control, judgement, haste, and pride brings us closer to God
and it is then when we become all things in able to win them. I know that the
Lord is committed to me, so I need to commit to Him. I want to have a teachable
spirit and be willing to accept His correction, or discipline. Yes, God
disciplines me! He disciplines you too if you belong to Him. His discipline may
hurt, but it is not harsh, nor does it scar or tear down. His discipline
corrects, reveals and builds us up and moves us into the direction of better
actions if we choose to summit to it. Learning how we speak to one another is
not a onetime process. It is continual. We all possess the opportunities
of producing a harvest with our words. But in order to produce a
transforming harvest with our words we need to be ever cautious to bless, lift
up, show love and build positive and loving relationships, not tear down.
That thing that causes friction, conflicts, even fights and
quarrels between yourself and someone you may care about is found in James
4:1-3, it says, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come
from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it….
.” God’s Word teaches us that conflicts in us come from the wrong desires that
battle within our hearts and is the result of our sinful nature. Sin in us is
always lurking to threaten our happiness and our fellowship with one another.
The enemy uses everything and every opportunity he can to cause our focus to be
misplaced, because he knows when that happens, even the smallest of things can
escalate. Once we give in to our sinful nature, God is ignored and we take
matters into our own hands. It is with great effort that we must train our
minds to be set on God for those moments and what He has instructed us to do in
those situations. Sometimes, what we think are good desires, can be escalated
to reach a sinful retaliation, if our thoughts and ways are not His and we
do not deal with our emotions and feelings by making the choice to put them to
death in us. When something is dead, it has no voice, no feeling, no emotion,
and no response. Truth becomes concealed as if we did not know it or worse, it
becomes twisted. Our listening shuts down and we are not understood, nor do we
understand the other person, thus the conflict.
When my daughters were little, I found myself constantly picking up and cleaning up messes that they made. There were times that I thought, they would never learn to stop making messes. As they got older and I continued training them and working with them to be more aware and thoughtful about making messes, the less they made.
When my daughters were little, I found myself constantly picking up and cleaning up messes that they made. There were times that I thought, they would never learn to stop making messes. As they got older and I continued training them and working with them to be more aware and thoughtful about making messes, the less they made.
This is how God deals with His own children. As His children grow
in His grace and knowledge from the point of their new birth, they struggle
trying to do the right thing. Like small children, they make messes in their
lives. Those messes often times even affect others as well. Yet, as they grow
in truth, desiring to do better, they begin to make less messes and they learn
how to clean up the messes that they make by responding in the right way.
Sometimes that may mean to seek forgiveness or forgive others that might have
made a mess and it affected you as well. Forgiveness is a direct command and
mandate from God to His Children. It is something extremely special which we
are given, and something precious we are to replicate to others. It is not
easy. It requires the practice of maturity, the patience to allow the process
to unfold, and the tact to endure it and remember this, obedience is worth the
sacrifice. Whether we realize it or not, being hurt is the place where
bitterness takes root in a fertile heart, that is fallow for planting. So, be
sure to sow the right seeds for a godly harvest and not bitter ones.
Loving on you today sweet friend,
Bren
