Living Peaceably

 WARNING:

PROCEED WITH  CAUTION

SERIOUS THOUGHTS AHEAD

Last Saturday, we were traveling to see my nephew be baptized (which is a HUGE praise of ours).  My Mom was with us and we were talking about a recent death in our family and how some of the family members hadn't made any acknowledgment of the death....no funeral home visits, no graveside service attendance....not even a call.  We decided that it was because of some things that had happened in the past that caused some to stay away.  My Mom made the comment, "I try to get along with everybody".  And, immediately the verse of scripture from Romans came to my mind and I quoted it out loud (in Deb's terms)....and Pappy who is the Bible scholar in our family (oh, how I admire that man!!!)...quoted it from the KJV....here it is from the NIV....

 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

I told my Mom that even the Lord knew that it wasn't gonna always be easy to get along with everybody....or else why would the verse say,

"if it is possible"?

  But, it does go on to say "as far as it depends on you".  It doesn't say to follow the lead of the other person and act the way they do, or say the things they say.  My sweet friend whom I consider my mentor  recently went thru a time where she wasn't treated right by another person in a financial situation....and I so admired how she handled the problem with such grace and dignity.  Another friend went thru a difficult time and she chose to "keep her mouth shut".  Often, that is so very difficult to do because it's human nature for us to want to defend ourselves....tell our side of the story.....but I see God getting the glory in both of these situations because those women chose to not slander....or talk about.....or back-stab.  They chose to do what scripture teaches us.

As I was writing this....the thought just came to my mind....that the more we try to do for the Lord....the more we're going to get hurt by others.  I've been trying to grasp for some time what God is trying to teach me in a struggle of my own....maybe that's it in a nutshell!!!

The more we try to do for HIM....the less the world is gonna like us.

As you've read this....did somebody come to mind in your own life?  Or....did it serve as a reminder that we're all weak and vulnerable and Satan is ready to attack us in any way that He can, even at the expense of breaking up Christian friendships?!?!  Let's not make serving the Lord a competition....or try to "one-up" one another. One of the saddest things to me is when Christians cannot support one another!!!

:(

And, sometimes....we can only be friendly with everybody....but with everybody we cannot be close friends!!!
(my own feeble attempt at a quote!!)




God puts things on my heart to share....but boy, does HE ever teach me the lesson in doing so!!



 Romans 12:9-10 (NLT) - Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.   Love each other with genuine affection,  and take delight in honoring each other.


In His Most Precious Love....and with mine!!!