I am reading 2 Timothy 4:1-8 for my devotion today and the passage serves as a warning for me especially verses 3 and 4. I am alerted against men who will not put up with sound doctrine. They will turn away from the truth. They basically allow what their itching ears want to hear.
There were several times in my life when I know what I should be doing, based on the Word of God I have read, the countless sermons I have listened, and also the counsels I have received, but the problem is sometimes I still choose to go on my own way.
In doing so, there were a lot of inner strife and as much as I could, I would put up a front, pretending that I was ok but in me, there was a constant battle of whether to obey God or not. There would also be a sense of guilt. Now as I look back, I wonder why I had to put up with all that trouble when I could have, in the first place, just follow what God has taught me throughout my journey as a Christian. It would have been more joyful and peaceful.
Why waste the days or weeks or months or years trying to pursue something which I know is not pleasing in the eyes of God when I could have allowed Him to lead me right from the start? If I had chosen that path, my relationship with God and the people around me would have grown even deeper. I would have been a better testimony as well.
I am sharing the above-mentioned because I can see the difference between now and then in my family where for years I have chosen to deal with the issues my way than to let God lead me accordingly. Did I achieve anything based on that? Yes! The rift between my parents, grandma and brother became wider! I was more bitter! It even affected my relationship with people outside my family.
Was it worth it? NOT AT ALL!
Now that I am trying to follow the way God wants me to deal with situations at home, I am actually feeling less burdened, frustrated and bitter. In fact, I now welcome conflicts because I want to show the other party how I am dealing with them. I mean, if I want to see change, it has to start with me.
Though it sounds weird to be welcoming unpleasant things like conflicts, I know eventually there will be less of them because I am learning to deal with them the way God would want me to. Eventually others will also learn from me merely by the way I practice what I preach. When both parties do that, what used to be unpleasant will become pleasant, hatred will turn to love, frustration will turn to thanksgiving and burdens will turn to joy!
Well, the choice is up to us. There is always a reason why God gave us His Word. He knows us well enough to do so. To obey or not, that is the question.
"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2 Timothy 4:3-4
There were several times in my life when I know what I should be doing, based on the Word of God I have read, the countless sermons I have listened, and also the counsels I have received, but the problem is sometimes I still choose to go on my own way.
In doing so, there were a lot of inner strife and as much as I could, I would put up a front, pretending that I was ok but in me, there was a constant battle of whether to obey God or not. There would also be a sense of guilt. Now as I look back, I wonder why I had to put up with all that trouble when I could have, in the first place, just follow what God has taught me throughout my journey as a Christian. It would have been more joyful and peaceful.
Why waste the days or weeks or months or years trying to pursue something which I know is not pleasing in the eyes of God when I could have allowed Him to lead me right from the start? If I had chosen that path, my relationship with God and the people around me would have grown even deeper. I would have been a better testimony as well.
I am sharing the above-mentioned because I can see the difference between now and then in my family where for years I have chosen to deal with the issues my way than to let God lead me accordingly. Did I achieve anything based on that? Yes! The rift between my parents, grandma and brother became wider! I was more bitter! It even affected my relationship with people outside my family.
Was it worth it? NOT AT ALL!
Now that I am trying to follow the way God wants me to deal with situations at home, I am actually feeling less burdened, frustrated and bitter. In fact, I now welcome conflicts because I want to show the other party how I am dealing with them. I mean, if I want to see change, it has to start with me.
Though it sounds weird to be welcoming unpleasant things like conflicts, I know eventually there will be less of them because I am learning to deal with them the way God would want me to. Eventually others will also learn from me merely by the way I practice what I preach. When both parties do that, what used to be unpleasant will become pleasant, hatred will turn to love, frustration will turn to thanksgiving and burdens will turn to joy!
Well, the choice is up to us. There is always a reason why God gave us His Word. He knows us well enough to do so. To obey or not, that is the question.
"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2 Timothy 4:3-4
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