My pride took a hit this weekend…
I didn’t get my way…
And I was ready to retreat, to run, to ignore, to forget I ever let myself feel that way…
But what verse wouldn’t leave my head all weekend?
“Not to me, Oh Lord, not to me, but to Your name be the glory” (Psalm 115)
My purpose is to bring the Lord glory. To be used by Him…to be usable, shapeable, moldable by Him.
How in any way, shape, or form is ignoring someone, avoiding someone, retreating and withdrawing from someone going to show the glory of the Lord?
It’s not.
“Love does not insist on its own rights or its own way” 1st Corinthians 13:5 (ugh, hits like a punch in the gut, doesn’t it?)
“Let your love be sincere-the real thing”(Romans 12:9)
“Love one another”(Romans 12:10, John 13:34, Galatians 5:14, Ephesians 5:2, etc)
Over and over again, we’re told to love. And that it is through that love that the world will know we’re His.
Loving one another isn’t a suggestion…it’s a command…a command only possible through abiding in Him. It’s a command not contingent on any condition. It doesn’t say:
- love only when they love you back
- love only when they let you have your way
- love only when they agree with you
- love only when they respond how you want them to
Sometimes God doesn’t let us have what we think we want. Sometimes He doesn’t let us have it when we think we want it. Sometimes…..it’s like He knows what’s best for us.
I have moments where I want to take all the things I can physically see, put them in a box, and label it ‘My future’. Then I hear God laugh (yeah, we have a God with a sense of humor), and say “Kacie, I get to use the world and beyond…I demolish boxes”
Soooo, here’s what I’ve concluded:
- I didn’t get my way. His ways are not my ways.
- I could pout and feel rejected. Sometimes we get rejected when we try to force our way over His.
- I could let my heart harden and refuse to let myself feel. But I can’t afford that. Out of the heart the mouth speaks…and I have to talk to too many people to draw from a hardened, bitter well.
SO, I say no to the things that are contrary to what He says. And I choose to love. I choose His way over mine.
