“Be very careful then, how you love—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Eph. 5:15-17
“But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” Gal. 4:8-9
Seems like a “no-brainer” ~~ be wise (not foolish), draw strength from the Lord to live on His path, and stay away from the ‘stuff of old’ that harms us. …Why so hard then? Why do we so readily choose to forsake certain heavenly rewards because of the intensity of today’s pain or pleasure? Because with a temporal mindset (vs. an eternal mindset), we sadly ‘lean to our own understanding’ way too often.
Part of the reason God allows these pain/pleasure trials in our lives is to burn the fake out of us and to see what we are really made of. (~~Said in a different way to the reasons stated in James 1:2-4 and 1Pet. 1:7) It’s about character…character is a BIG deal to our eternal Dad.
Ok, ok, we are getting that God is the potter and we are the clay, and that He is in the business of molding and shaping us into His perfect vessel. (Is. 64:8) ~~ However, what do we do when it is not us personally, but someone close to us that is amidst painful suffering or caught up in sinful pleasure?
We stay the course: be wise (not foolish), draw strength from the Lord to live on His path, and stay away from the ‘stuff of old’ that harms us.
When someone dear to us is “under attack” (painful suffering or sinful pleasure), it’s almost harder than going through it ourselves. Can you relate? For a lot of us it is harder with someone we love, because we don’t have any control over him/her or the circumstances! And for the control freak, this drives us CRAZY.
Heads up for us control freaks… we cannot control this other person, but we can influence (by our words, actions and prayers), leave the results in God’s hands, and grow personally. It’s a heartbreaking process, but God actually changes us by making us utterly dependent upon Him for those we love. And when we are wholly dependent upon God, our influence towards those we love is from Him, and not from ourselves. (It’s also a comfort to know that God’s heart is breaking for this one we love so dearly…more than ours ever will. God made this person. ~If you are unfamiliar with Gen. 6:5-6, check it out…an actual depiction of God’s breaking heart.)
We Cleary’s have a present situation in our lives where someone very dear to us is trying to re-enter our lives…a prodigal son type of situation perhaps. Many lives have been affected by this prodigal’s recklessness…and each person affected has his/her own story and each has his/her personal walk with the Lord. ~~ Hence this message. We are doing our best to “live this walk”, and not merely ‘talk the walk’ here and now! (And we so appreciate your prayers over us.)
God bless you this week, and we want to close this message with a smile:
“During a recent password audit, it was found that a blonde was using the following password: MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento. When asked why such a long password, she said she was told that it had to be at least 8 characters long and include at least one capital.” ~A short joke from a person who seems to have followed personal instinct instead of consulting the Lord!
Much love,
Shaun and Betsy
