People can say some of the vilest things. And I know that I say things that are out of line- I KNOW that I THINK things that are out of line- so I'm not just pointing the finger here without seeing the three pointed back at me.
Recently, I have had a rash of boundary-crossing, bordering-on-rude, passive-aggressive-Southern-belle-mean-girl, "thank you, Captain Obvious" remarks made to me that I have had a hard time letting go of. And the hardest part is that most of these people call themselves Christians.
People use Christians as the basis for not accepting Christianity. I've talked about this before on my soap box- I mean, blog - and it's something that use to make me angry towards Christians. Now it's just breaking my heart-- That a person doesn't want to experience the goodness of God because some Christian is being a cotton-headed ninny-muggins (yea, I used an "ELF" reference). And that a Christian doesn't realize what he is doing by acting like he does.
Several events recently have just made me want to crawl in a hole and never come out. I feel like I am in high school again and people are just saying things to be mean. And I'm disappointed because these people call themselves Christians. And they are attacking their own Family. But they don't see it like that. They don't see any harm in the things that they say. Or how it is affecting other people. For whatever reason, they are just trying to be funny or make conversation. But it hurts. And I have been letting it be poison to the Fruits of The Spirit that are growing in my life... which ticks me off because the Lord has really been showing me some awesome stuff and growing some cool fruit in my life.
After the church's musical last night, I had the privilege of speaking to a friend who reminded me that I should pray for these people who are "attacking" me. It was nice that I could be honest and say, "It's really hard for me just to walk away from them and to remember that what they say is a reflection of THEM and that their words about me are not true." She advised me that the Bible says to PRAY FOR THEM. "It's not easy, but the Lord says it's the way to get through those situations."
Okay, so I figured it couldn't hurt to pray for these people and just in today, this is what I realized in this experiment:
1. Some Christians use Christianity as fire insurance - they have not been taught that there is more to being a Christian than just a get-out-of-hell-free card.... and that's sad.
2. I am responsible for my actions and my response to people... not for their actions.
3. That I don't have to allow these words to poison the Fruits of the Spirit in me... that I can protect the Fruits of the Spirit with the Armor of God.
So this is a work in progress... and I don't have it right off the bat. This is gonna have to be a new chromosome that gets grafted into the DNA of my spirit, body and soul. This revelation was kinda mind-blowing.
I just hope that I can remember it tomorrow.... :)
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