Compassion and forgiveness belong to the LORD our God, though we have rebelled against Him. - Daniel 9:9
Have you ever found yourself in a debate with yourself? Usually this is an internal dialog about something you are thinking about doing; and I know it seems odd to talk about the things that go on inside the mind, but if you think about, we do this quite often. There is something that comes up, some decision that needs to be made, some opportunity on which we should act, and we have to make a choice. Usually these are simple things, in which we might debate and then go with something that sounds fund, or in our current climate safe. However, there are occasionally times when we need to debate whether a decision falls within our character as a Christian.
These types of situations are not often, nor are they the norm, however, we do make them. We choose to live into the character of the Christian every day, or to not. When I find myself in such conundrums, often it is when my rebellious side seems to pipe up. Not that I have some crazy rebellious streak, or have a desire to do things that are seemingly crazy. I do, however, have a desire to go against the grain sometimes; to do something that might make people think: “that’s odd.” The truth is that many of us feel the same way, sometimes. We don’t want to always take the easy path, or the path everyone expects us to take. So we often debate with ourselves because sometime we want to be the rebel. Of course, it is in our nature to rebel against what is right. At least that is the case until we embrace God, until we embrace the one who is compassion and forgiveness. We tend to rebel against God, until we find our home is God’s presence.
After we embrace Christ love in our lives, we think (and we should think this way) that we can now, with Christ’s help make right decisions. We can claim the identity that we have in Christ. However, as in my life, I have striven to embrace more of who Christ wants me to be, when I come to those times where I debate the choice I want to make on a situation, I’m going more against the grain of society than I am God’s will. I don’t know why that is, but I find that being the rebel means doing something that God has asked, it means doing something that will make people think I’m odd or crazy, or different in some way. That is because to the world outside the church, doing what God has called us to do seems a little odd.
We, as people called by God, called out of sin and death and into compassion and forgiveness should be a little rebellious. However, our rebellion is to deny the world, and choose a better way. We need to embrace the opportunity to do something different, as long as it shows the love of God, in us, and towards others. By doing so, many may see our good and joyful works and praise our Father in heaven.
Grace & Peace,
Sam