Stumbleth

"What I want you to stop doing is confessing in persecution."

THE WORLD is full of haters, people to disagree with everything you do. Darkness holds sway over the minds and attitudes of many, those in the church and those out of it. We are all human. I typically dislike saying things like that, except this past week the bridge came down, leaving me climbing the walls of the ravine in my slippers. Only good thing down here are the frogs. I like frogs.

Now, if I were turning that into an average sermon, it’d be something about us needing to shape up or ship out and it’d end in a rant about ungodliness in preachers. But that is not my point. Love one another is a serious thing to me because I’ve met Jesus. I’m also in that ravine and looking upwards at the climb. In the scale of things, this is just a tiny hole in what was a grand canyon. I went there once, to the actual Grand Canyon. It’s big. That is what surprised me the most. And that there are no railings on most of it. You can walk right to the edge and look downward for miles. So I’m higher than I was, and it was lookin’ level ’til now.

The more I stare at these frogs, the more they don’t look right. That’s me making an analogy between them and people. The truth is, there are dishonest people in the world. There are those who will con you out of your socks. There are many who dislike and despise the Christian church as well. Whether the frogs gazing at you, battin’ their lashes, are scam artists, hackers, political gurus, or any other known form of judgmental people, whoever they are, I’m not about to tell you to love them anyway. You should know that already. I’m not going to tell you how to avoid them. This isn’t me giving “don’t touch that” advice.

What I want you to stop doing is confessing in persecution. “But, Suzanne, Jesus said there would be persecution!” He did, and those who formed the Christian church had to climb uphill fightin’ vultures, and some of them lost their lives for it. But God’s mindset on our relationships is so much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9). For one thing, as I’ve mentioned before, Psalm 119:165 says we are not to ever be offended by anyone. So that x’s out all your tantrums for any reason, including yelling at cars. They can’t hear you, but God does; and it affects your attitude. For another thing, He has promised us favor with men.

“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.” (Proverbs 3:3-4)

If we’d stop confessing in persecution, especially if our motive is to allow us to throw a tantrum, and if we’d confess in favor – “Whoever I meet feels the peace of God which overflows from me (Psalm 23:5)” – then we’d show a correct image of Jesus, people would see the love of God in us, and we wouldn’t be angry. I say this all the time and have since I began publishing books, that no one can leave a negative comment about me. This is two-fold. One, that they cannot actually leave one and make me the cause of their hatred. I don’t want anyone condemned in their behavior because of what I say. And two, that no one can make me the cause of their hatred because I never say the wrong thing.

“That’s a tall order,” you say. I admit that, and most of the time, it means NOT SPEAKING. Can you not say what you know will upset others when your reason for saying it is to upset others? Can you just let others say what they think and you only nod or say something polite without correcting them? That’s our nature. They say to go left on Main Street, and you’ll get there quicker. You step in to say Main Street is such a bad choice, no one should go that way, and they feel condemned. How about you just let them take Main Street? Or taking another analogy. Let’s talk about food. (Hikes up can of worms.)

Can we all just eat together? If he wants to avoid red-dye number 40, then buy something without it, or let him eat it at your lunch together without you commenting on it. If he loves red-dye number 40 and hunts for it, but you think it’s harmful, then let him eat it without commenting, and you politely refuse, or hopefully, you can buy those organic chips. The apostle Paul addressed this issue in Romans 14. I’d say pause here and read it, but if food criticism is your issue with people, then you need to meditate on it. I personally know people who avoid the red-dye number 40, and others who avoid gluten, and some who prefer oat milk, and there are many more examples of this in my life. She doesn’t like seed oils. He has to grill everything.

I hope you see my point, and again, to quote Paul, “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. (Romans 14:21).” I’m sure he didn’t say stumbleth. But you get my point. Again, don’t take offense. Their habits are their habits. And also, even if they rake you over the coals for eating what you’re eating and get your dander way up, stop calling it persecution.

If one more person says, “There’s always someone who hates you,” then I’ll just … Oh, wait. I said that. Know the truth, confess favor, act peaceful, and be forgiving. I call that “problem solved.”

Photo by Anwaar Ali on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com