Keeping it real....

Last week was, well, interesting. I had a sibling who resurrected a past wounding to me that she was not involved in, but observed. Her heart was in the right place, but as I told her, "....reconciliation can't be forced. When God has accomplished His will, He brings people back together."

While I had long since forgiven them and left the situation in God's hands, it did bring the past directly back into my view.

I asked, "Why, Lord? Why now?"

Over the years, He has worked in me "staying power" --
a power that refuses to run the other way no matter how much I would like to run.

No, in Him, we are to face whatever comes our way.

So, I sat with Him, seeking Him as to why the past should revisit me now. It was at this point He began to speak to me about the importance of convictions.... thus my blip that I posted on Wednesday about "being right or in relationship."

To me, this phrase is too much of an emotional manipulative. It implies if you choose "right" over the relationship, you have chosen incorrectly. But we must remember Jesus stood for righteousness and let His conviction drive people from Him or to Him.

Our convictions should cost us if we are walking according to them.

Opinions are different than convictions.
The former is rooted in self. The latter is rooted in God.
Opinions change. Convictions don't.

Fewer and fewer people seem to discern the difference. Fewer and fewer people seem to grasp the importance of standing on conviction despite personal cost. Meanwhile more and more people buy into a life of compromise that supports the corrupt thinking: "just don't upset the apple cart" or "do whatever it takes to get along."

While I don't go around looking for a fight, neither do I look the other way when wrong is done. As a result, I routinely find myself in more than lukewarm water. In the heart of truth and transparency, I don't like that this is the case, but as I see it, I don't have a choice. I'll never live a life of compromise. All evidence supports that over the years He has shaped me into a vessel willing to sustain hot temperatures. And the most recent events bring home His objective: to work in me even deeper staying power.

In a day when convictions are easily forsaken, I pray you will be among the few who dedicate themselves to solidly standing on God's Word.

We are to walk upright before God without compromise.
The Message version puts it this way, "We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God....... We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe." ( 2 Corin 4 )

So my roots were pushed further into the Ground this week.
He is my staying power, my Life Sustainer. I am ever so thankful for His abiding presence that teaches me:

"Let love be without hypocrisy.
Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good."
(Romans 12:9)

Blessings always!
Deborah