God is not a pincushion. He is powerful. He is not all hearts, flowers and candy. We lose sight of His power and might. We know He loves us. He is merciful, kind and gives redemption and restoration. This is not the only aspect of God's message to us though. Sometimes He comes to divide. He divides truth and untruth, evil and good. (Do you think I came to bring peace on Earth? No I tell you, but division." Luke 12:51) This means that even our relationships at times will divide over followers of Christ- siblings, friends and other relationships. It means we will stand out for our decisions and choices in this life. This means we are to look divided from the world. We have to say "no" to many worldly things. We are called to carefully choose as believers what we take in. We have to monitor closely the books, tv, movies, music and other things that are thrown our way and be discerning.
In today's world, the message is too often the opposite. "Acceptance" "well it's ok, it's not that harmful." It IS ok for us to question whether things we bring into our life line up with scripture. There is absolute truth in the world. That is God's truth. God's eternal truth's never go out of date. He knew that human kind would try to "update" ourselves and reassign our values elsewhere. His words still ring true, and they forever will. We are not called to live in idleness and blindness. We are not called to say "it's fine." We are called to say "is that God's truth?" Sometimes we are participating in things as Christians that are wrong. Whether it is a movie we are viewing, music we listen too, popular culture we idolize, something we read etc.
God requires us to ask Him guidance as His followers...in every aspect of our lives. One part of our lives is not supposed to be God's while the other part isn't. We are designed so that every little part of our life God cares about. Nothing is too small or too large to ask God about, to ask guidance for. It isn't silly to ask God for guidance about what we should read in our lives, or what we should watch, what we should listen too. What healthcare decisions to make, what schools to send our children too, what groups we should join, who He will bring as friends in our life, how we should spend our time, even a thought process that is flawed-the list can go on. If He cared enough to knit us together in the womb, to number the hairs on our heads, how much does He care for the details of His children's lives?
There are certain things in popular culture we just are not supposed to participate in and nothing will justify it. We stay silent as believers and often participate. He requires that lovingly we stand for truth. We can lovingly say that something is wrong. We are not called to be idle. Is God idle? Is love idle? Too many of us sit in our cushy beds of idleness, acceptance, because we think we will be "being judgemental." Don't fall into that trap. Do not be rude. Do not be unkind. Stand for truth while you love at the same time. We can stand for truth boldly or quietly at times simply by not partaking in it.
Jesus never told others to continue on in their sin because "poo poo" he loved them and it was ok anyway. He called them out of their sin with His love and truth. Do not stand idle. Speak up and stand for the truth. Truth is living. Truth is eternal. It never dies or changes.
We are not called to look like the world. Let's be in the constant process of rooting things out of ourselves that don't have a place in our lives with God's help.
When others see us too much like the world we aren't reflecting God and His power.
Stand firm on the wall of God's mighty power and the truth He tells us so clearly.
"The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." Mark 4:19
"...to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:23-24
"The Lord is slow to get angry, but His power is great, and He never lets the guilty go unpunished. He displays His power in the whirlwind and the storm. The billowing clouds are the dust beneath His feet." Nahum 1:3
What areas do we need to ask God's guidance in that we have left Him out of? Are we blindly following or participating in something (large or small) that we are not seeing is sin?
