One of those, was a small little book on etiquette with the title of "Don't". It is a hilarious little book filled with all the things that you're not supposed to do if in fact you don't have "good" breeding but you would like to act like you do.
As I mused through it's old world advice (as it was first printed in the 1800's) I began to ponder all of the things we "good" christians don't do for some of the same reasons.
I wrote down all of the things that came to my mind that
"good christians Don't do".....you know the ones....
"good christians"
don't drink
don't smoke
don't cuss
don't dance
don't fraternize with 'sinners'
don't listen to secular music
don't watch soaps
don't wear bikinis
don't ever skip church
or bible study.....
unless you're really, really sick....(and then it's okay)
the list could go on and I'm sure you've got a few that you could add to it....
I've struggled in my own life with what some of these issues look like for me. I've wreaked with pride when I felt like I was doing all the right things and none of the wrong things and gauged my spiritual walk accordingly. At other times, I've lived in fear of what others might think of me if they knew that I wasn't living according to all of the "good christians don't" rules. I've also judged others in their spiritual walk and made assumptions of where they might be in their spiritual journey according to my earthly view.
But you know....Jesus didn't do that. If anyone could have spent time judging others on this planet it could have been him. Instead, He spent his time speaking the truth and handing out grace. So, I spent time with Him this week confessing my heart to him on some of these issues and my tendency to make judgement according to the "good christians don't" rules (even on myself). I asked him to speak truth into my life concerning some of these things and He did.
He reminded me that He is always more concerned with my heart than anything else. He reminded me of something his Holy Spirit whispered in my ear a few weeks ago as I was waking up from a deep sleep...
That my calling is to acknowledge Him and glorify Him with my life.
And as we finished up our visit that morning, Jesus talking to me through his Word and Spirit and me talking to him about all of this...He impressed upon my heart three little words.
Be A Light.
Wherever you go, whatever you do, whomever you're with....Be A Light.
That is what matters....so I say, forget about all that other stuff... Be Real and Let's Shine!
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