In school I once wrote an essay titled "Because You're Right." It was all about taking a stand for what you believe and being true to your convictions.
I used to be right about a lot of things. Not anymore. It's kind of a relief.
When I was 'right' i felt kind of obligated to 'share' that with other people. You know, to help them. Pray for them. To convince them so that they too could see the light and live the glorious life that I....well, anyway.....I wanted to convince them for their own good. I was nice about it though. It wasn't like I was pushy. Some people just can't see the truth. I felt sorry for them and continued to pray for their enlightenment while we remained friends. I never estranged myself from people because they believed differently than me. Although, as you realize, I could never be as close to them as I might have liked if only they had believed correctly.
It can be tough when you are standing for what you believe. All that time, I might not have had any deep relationships or close friends but I did have the peace of knowing that I was right.
What a consolation that was!
I wonder what I was thinking. I wonder what I thought Heaven was going to like when all those people were there? Did I think that even there I would receive an extra crown for carrying my torch?
Is there any spiritual blessing for being right? I'm just wondering. In the Bible we see a lot of examples about forbearance, judging, and hypocrisy. Jesus had a lot to say about the Pharisees, who by the way, were doing it by the book. But all in all I'm not seeing a lot of commendation coming from the Lord toward anyone for the sheer recognition of someone's being right.
But maybe I'm wrong on that. I'm sure you'll let me know. Or maybe you'll just "pray for me."
Hope, first of all I think this is yet another masterpiece of writing and the subtleties are no doubt conveyed in a way that can be understood at least by one person, namely, myself.
ReplyDeleteThere’s something that you said that I think if people would stop and ponder, it might hit them like a ton of bricks to the face: “All that time, I might not have had any deep relationships or close friends but I did have the peace of knowing that I was right.” That begs the question (at least in my mind and with all love I impose it on yours and whoever else might be reading this), “What kind of fruit for the Lord have I been gathering with what I believe to be the ‘truth’?” As mentioned, “deep relationships and “close friends” were not included if there was in fact any fruit being gathered at all. Yet we are commanded by the Lord in His Word to gather fruit for Him; to ‘bear fruit for God’ [see the positive in Matthew 4:36, Colossians 1:10 – see also the negative in Matthew 7:16,17] So if we’re not bearing good fruit for Him according to what we believe to be right, then we must ask the question: why not?
Another thought that I had reading toward the end…. I think maybe what you might be asking is “When I get into heaven, will the Lord in fact say to me, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master.” because you were “right” by your own estimates? [see Matthew 25:14-30] The picture that Matthew 25:14-30 paints says that those who have been given much to deal with will be given much more than they initially received; they have been “entrusted” with more. If we’re not being entrusted with more, and maybe even entrusted with nothing (as the man who hid his talent in the dirt), we again must be asking ourselves the question: why not? Why am I not being entrusted with more? You can take this back to the “fruit” that I mentioned previously. Much fruit will equal more fruit; take the fruit; bear more fruit; so on and so forth (see “abundance”, verse 29). It is by this “fruit” that I believe the Lord will judge us by when (and if) He says, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master.” If we are not met with those words, He might say when faced with Him, “How much fruit have you bore with what I have given you?”
So then that goes deeper into the rabbit hole asking, “Well, what does fruit for the Lord look like? What does that even mean?” The short answer is: good works. “But isn’t that what the Pharisees did and got reamed for it?” Yes, only because they were trying to earn favor with God not understanding that they could do nothing to make that happen. The good works that we are to do and thereby produce and bear fruit from are works that are wrought by gladness and joy toward God in our hearts because of what Christ has done for us. The “good works” are to be an overflow of affections toward God. Think: vertical relationship (relationship with God) overflows to horizontal relationships (relationships with people). And so we ask God to search our hearts, to find any grievous way in us so that we may repent and be used as vessels for honorable use for His purpose and our joy; to bear good fruit for Him.
[New Testament references to “fruit”: Matthew 7:16, 17; John 4:36; Galatians 5:22 (fruit of the Spirit); Colossians 1:10 (fruit in every good work) | References to “fruitful (labor or production)”: Genesis 9:7; Exodus 1:7; Psalms 107:37; Philippians 1:22 | Other Scripture for consideration: Psalm 139:23,24 (search our hearts); John 17:13; 1 John 1:4 (joy)]
I really wish that would have carried the paragraph tags over from Microsoft word lol.
ReplyDeleteMatt, thanks for the compliment. I was about to delete the post for fear that I was unclear.
ReplyDeleteI only have one thing to add (for now) to what you said. As I read the Scriptures you posted, something struck me. Matthew 7:20 says "By your fruit ye shall know them..." That phrase made me think of another verse about how we identify who is on what 'side'. John 13:35 says "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another." In fact, just two chapters over in John 15 we have the whole vine and fruit chapter, and in verse 9 it is revealed what fruit is primarily being spoken about. Love. (see verses 9-13). My desire to be right oftne has nothing to do with love, but self-gratification and justification. If love of self would take a back seat, my need for being right would go sit beside it. And I think with so many other things on the table that I should be aiming for, that the backseat is exactly where "being right for gosh-darn sake" ought to stay.
I have made so many people uneasy in my presence. Uneasy in the house of God. Uneasy in just their Christian skin by my judement and my being right. I am not saying that we shouldn't beleive what we believe and stand up for it. But some of my stuff was way out there and was just plain hurtful. And now that I've stepped back, I can even see that it might not have been right. (I won't go into it right now because that's not the subject of the blog, but I will hint for now that it had to do with elitism. In other words....pride. Pride is never loving and goes against all that is love-I cor 13).
Okay, well that's enough brain pickin for now. Love ya, brother I never had (was that a compliment or were you thanking God you never had a sister like me?)ha
excellent comments all around... very deep...
ReplyDelete