Lying, stealing, and murder are wrong. (among other things)
Helping, Giving, and patience, are good. Right?
We’ve known this to be true since the moment we walked out of the 5 and dime with that gumball we didn’t pay for and our mothers made us openly take it back.
As we grow older and more things of the world, more sinful instincts, are revealed, right and wrong aren’t always spelled out. There is a very fine line in some cases between good and bad, and finding it isn’t always easy. Especially for us young folk, just stepping into the world on our own.
For instance, wearing dresses to church, singing in the choir, teaching classes. When is this following what we believe is what the Lord wants? And when is it simply showing off?
This is something God wants us to find out for our selves. You can’t open the Bible to the book of "First Meggie" and it say, "On the third Sunday she sang" Nor Does God open up the clouds and bonk you on the head for wearing jeans. (at least not anymore…)
The answer itself is simple. Your attitude. If you Jump up, Grab a microphone and sing at the top of your voice so that everyone comes up to you and says how wonderful you are… needless to say it’s for the wrong reasons.
And yet if you take on the ten year old Wednesday night bus kids simply because you know they need Jesus, then I’d say you were on the right track.
Now here is my dilemma.
When is standing up for the Lord a good thing, and when is it simply pouring wind?
I recently got into an argument with my aunt (a sixty year old self professed "Hippie") when she posted an article on her facebook against a theocratic government. Personally I believe the Baptists and the Methodists and the Catholics should have no part in government, But I KNOW God should take hold of it and shake it to it’s knees. (I usually put it that there should be a separation of "Church" and state, but not "God" and state.)
I simply stated to her that I’d rather God were in control than who we have now. And she jumps up and begins ranting on how we have no right to keep two men from marrying or to keep a girl with "Modern Ideals" from "Making a choice"
Well I won’t go further on the details but that I don’t like to argue, and yet I was, and that it was long, drawn out and painful. I hated fighting with her. She’s my Aunt, and I love her, but I cannot stand for someone to slander God in any way. (And she’s a professed "Born Again Believer"… thought she drinks, smokes and most likely hasn’t been to church in my lifetime)
Halfway through landed on a Sunday, so I asked my youth, (including our preacher’s wife) advise on it. I had gotten a reply that morning and was so shook up I couldn’t stand it.
Our youth rep (a girl of 16) jumped up in arms about it, but Mrs. Becky, the preachers wife, told me I shouldn’t be arguing with my aunt.
So when is it good to stand for the Lord and when is it just arguing?
I feel like my attitude was right. (No brag, just fact) I felt for some reason Like I had to say something, to keep God’s law from becoming a doormat.
And that is just what the church and my parents have been teaching me for years is that because we haven’t stood for God, our country is in the state it’s in.
I also feel like I got through to her, if only for a moment. It was a statement I made that ended the conversation. She was stumped but came back a few days later and rectified herself. (needless to say… I didn’t reply that time)
And another line… when is asking advise like this gossip, and when is it simply asking advise?
On a lighter note, I have a praise report concerning an earlier post! I had a glimmer of hope from the 14 year old last Sunday. She told me she wanted to take a purity oath! Now whether she will or if she’ll keep it, is not for me to say. But the fact is she saw a light somewhere and told me she wanted to. Continue to pray for her! And for me that I’ll know what to say and when to say it.
I love you all, and thanks for the wonderful advise!
Meggie
