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F I N D I N G
"Ethical Systems without the absolute standard of right, goodness, and truth revealed in the Scriptures cannot survive." R.C. Sproul Ethics and morals releate to "right" and "wrong" conduct. While they are sometimes used interchangeably, they are different: Ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religion.
Morals refer to an individual's own principles reagarding right and wrong. What do ethical systems have to do with houses built on sand? Please bare with me here.. In my Proverbs reading this morning these words struck me like an arrow to the heart.. "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil, Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate." Proverbs 8:12-13 The plethora of "self-help" books, blogs, and articles of today is just like a categorical smorgasboard on any problem or idea that one can imagine. Now I am not against any book which is written from the foundational truths found in scripture, but this is where most of these new self-help, inspirational books stray. They stray from "sound doctrine". I'm not sure why I continue to be shocked at the lack of discernment and discretion that runs rampant concerning these "new ideas" in so-called Christian books today. If our lives are lined up with scripture and the solid foundation of pure doctrine found in them we could not be so easily led astray with these "new" ideas that have nothing whatsoever to do with the teachings found in scripture. Our discernment would be on high alert when we come across these things that are so contrary to God and His Word. The thing that saddens my heart even more is that not only are some swallowing up these things but these same people will also share this slander against God's Word with others...and thus it spreads like a wild fire in the church. This breaks my heart..literally..breaks my heart. I pray for godly leaders and godly people to rise up to the call of pure doctrine and the backbone to defend, (with love), the truths of scripture. Most of these articles, blogs, and books are all about "being the best version of you"... I hate to even have to post this on my blog but if I didn't I'm not sure how else to get this point across at just how badly misdirected and far from scripture these things can get so here goes... I have to apologize ahead of time at just how off this is... "I can still remember them. The sweet, soft spoken, Christian girls I knew who never drank, smoked, or said a cuss word. They stood classily drinking their waters at the high school dances while my pre-gamed self popped my stuff on the dance floor. Holy cow... there was no way I could measure up to them. I mean, they were so GOOD. And I couldn’t “quiet down” my personality, anyways. I was the wild, outgoing, and outspoken one.. I couldn’t be like them. So there was no hope for me to ever be a true Christ follower, so I thought. What I didn’t know, is God didn’t want my PERSONALITY to change to follow Him.... I was never the gentle, soft spoken girl. In fact, when I was three years old, my mom caught me in the middle of the play balls at Burger King with my hands in fist-fighting position saying “do you want a piece of me!” to the boys playing in the balls. 😳😂 (okay, funny, but not funny.) not sure what instigated my doing that. Through college, I felt God’s pull to get out of the living-for-tequila-shots/funneling-beers-every-weekend life, but I couldn’t measure up to those sweet Christian girls, y’all. So I began to think, how can I fix myself to get up on God’s level, so that I can be worthy of His love and good enough to live for Him? But y’all, He wanted ME. All of me. The most disgusting, hungover, sinful parts of me. And HE wanted to restore them. It’s wild to think how long it took me to understand that I was good enough for God, JUST AS I WAS. He didn’t want me to fix anything on my own before coming to Him, HE wanted to restore me... in the most beautiful way — and holy cow, when I realized my Father accepted me fully for who I was and, in fact, wanted to use my bold and crazy personality for His good— the F R E E D O M I received was amazing! I didn’t have to change my personality or become some quiet, soft spoken girl. I got to be ME and He somehow worked (and continues to work) through my awkwardness and quirkiness, while cleansing me of those sins and making me the best version of ME." The sad thing is that this blog has many followers... My point is.. Why is this blogger segregating these girls who have chosen to live godly, pure lives all of their lives as if they are her enemy? Aren't we all at the cross together no matter who we are? The body of Christ is just that the body of Christ. How can "downing" these girls help anybody come to Christ when they see such division in His body? He has not called us to separate because of our different lives but to unite in the Spirit at the foot of the cross together and follow Him in humbleness and love. I could take the time to take this whole article apart but I won't here, maybe in another post. This article is just an example of how far away from the truths of scripture we can stray if we do not walk in discernment and discretion. We are not to go about as busybodies..dividing and destroying the body of Christ. We are to be building up in love. God help the church and especially the women of the church to become more discernful, walking in purity, humbleness, and yes, even quietness as scripture teaches. "but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." I Peter 3:4 See how this verse takes that whole article and proves its false teaching? This is the beauty of scripture. It shows us the truth of God and His Wisdom so we do not have to be deceived and we can walk in pure doctrine and sound teaching. My daughter sent me an article this week dealing with this very subject and I was so thankful to see the heart of my children walking in the truths of God. This has been my whole life work and goal. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3 John 4 Not just my perception of truth...but truth found in scripture...this is life. As Women Finding Grace I pray that our homes and our lives can be built only on the foundation of truth found in scripture and sound doctrine. This is an urgent call to line up all those "self-help" books, blogs, and anything else we are feeding our spirits with God's Word...especially before we share with others.
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