As we all know, life can be very difficult at times. It can be more strenuous when you take into account all the competing voices and agendas we have inundating us with ideas of how we should think, how we should feel; so on and so forth. The constant back and forth can take a toll on your mind, body and spirit and that is what I’d like to talk to you about; wearing ourselves down listening to the wrong thing(s).

I was talking to a Brother in Christ earlier today on Facebook, and we had an interesting conversation about politics and the like that ultimately ended in a more spiritual tone. It wasn’t vitriolic or laced with hyperbole, to the contrary, it was rather comforting and had me doing some serious soul searching. There are a lot of things trying to drown out the voice of God in our lives and it’s gotten to the point where there seems to be nothing but anger, hatred and malice towards one another. I know because I get angry as well. For example, just the other day, I blew up at a friend over something they posted-this is after having vowed not to get wrapped up in the these discussions anymore. The stress was getting to me, affecting my attitude, my health; I even have a nice little patch of thinned out hair (it’s not a bald spot yet) it has gotten so bad. I knew that if I didn’t change something and change it soon, it may be too late for it would surely guide me to an early grave. That is when I realized that I should stop listening to all these other competing voices and listen to what I know to be true, listen to God.

Telling the truth and facts are two different things and depending on how they are used, it can have a disastrous outcome. You can use facts to tell the truth that you want to be told, not necessarily the truth that should be. Tony Evans gave a really good example of this during his last sermon that I listen to via pod cast (I listen to a lot of sermons, Charles Stanley, Tony Evans and a few others) during the week leading up to church services on Sunday. He told a story about a husband who went fishing one day and when he had returned home he had 20 fish that he caught and was telling his wife about it. The mans wife asked him, “How did you catch 20 fish?” to which the husband replied, “I went to the market and told the fisherman to throw them to me.” Think Pikes Market in Seattle if you will, but the point was that he didn’t lie, he had the 20 fish but he used the fact of the fish in a way that was misleading.

This is what Satan does to us.

He wants us fighting back and forth, not only hurting our witness but also it keeps us from doing Godly things. Feeding the poor, taking care of the sick, being kind to one another, donating your time, efforts and monies-it’s all tied together.  I don’t want-nor do I associate with people who do-others to go without, to be ailing with no care, homeless and abandoned. But since there is sin in this world, that will always play a part in how those things are handled. People (politicians in particular) will even try and use God’s word to make those very same points, quoting scripture the whole time, all the while knowing that they are only using such a cudgel to garner favor.

So the question then becomes, what is truth and what do we do about it? The answer has been in front of me the whole time, I’ve just been too discombobulated to see it. In all ways at all times, treat people like Jesus Christ would have treated them. Simple.

The truth that I talked about earlier, for the Christian, is found in Him thru the guidance of the Holy Spirit, prayer and the reading and living of his word. Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, none of that matters when it comes down to it because if you put God first, you’ll always do the right thing. Jesus Christ didn’t waste time or energy arguing with people…he did what needed to be done. In all ways and all things, He was a living sacrifice and if we keep that in mind we won’t go wrong. You can’t go wrong because as Isaiah 55:11 tells us,

“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it”

The life, preaching and teaching of Christ is His word so as a believer in faith thru Him, I know that if I set my heart after His, whatever I do will be the right thing. I won’t need anyone to set before me examples of which way to go because I will be going in the way of the one who is in control anyway, God.

It’s hard- at least for me it is, to always do what is right. In fact, I suck at it. But I tell you the truth, from my own life experiences, it is always a better option than doing it my way. That doesn’t mean that you I don’t think for myself or anything like that, but, what it does mean is that my thinking guided by his righteous ways and wisdom is the best way and the only way to live a loving, light and salt life that all can see. Whether or not they choose to acknowledge God’s hand in that is on them-but that isn’t for me to worry about. That’s on God to soften hearts and minds. We shouldn’t be in the converting business, that’s His territory. But if we are good ambassadors of his will then we will honor our Father in Heaven and bring glory and honor to His name.

Have a blessed weekend and if you’re reading this and I’ve gotten under your skin about something I’ve said, my bad. I’m trying to be more like Him for who’s name I am called. Don’t blame God, blame me. Likewise know that the good you see of me comes from Him and is not of my own doing. In closing I want to leave you with something Paul said that is as true for me as it was for him: Romans 7:14-25

　“14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”