Family pressures, church pressures, or any pressures from any other organization should not deter us from our calling. No human being can know what God wants us to be doing.
The Bible and the Holy Spirit direct all our actions and attitudes; people do not. That is not to say that godly people have no input in our lives; they do, but only as they obey the scriptures in their counsel and lifestyle.
Others can edify us by the Word of God, but they do not make the decisions about our calling or the personal conclusions for our lives.
So often, family, friends, and church attendees judge things that are not sin as a form of control over us. They micro-manage perceptions about us to others with the intent of removing your support system.
In our culture, many, if not most, people are deeply controlled by others because the Holy Spirit is not their focus. When Christ is our focus, people cannot control us.
Make no mistake, everyone is controlled by something or someone, either by their culture or by the Holy Spirit. It is unsettling to unbelieving family and ritualistic churches when someone does not follow their pattern of life or their decrees.
Since most people need others to do the same thing they are doing, they tend to become upset, if only mildly irritated, when someone chooses to walk a different path from them.
Galatians 4:16-18 "…16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. 18 Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose—at any time, and not only when I am with you.…"
I am convinced that this irritation occurs when someone leaves the cultural path. Those who are all doing the same things are not convinced in their own minds of their own choices. They must have followers to maintain their sense of control.
The word "culture" means to till the ground, or in the case of cultural expectations, it denotes tilling the mind to cause compliance with others. A sort of brainwashing in which those who are members of the culture fear not being accepted by others in that system, so they repeat the same mantras and habits while excluding anyone who does not comply with the group or the prominent leader.
These cultures are common and make lots of rules God never made. They are dedicated to their rules more than the Bible and judge others who think differently. And, worse, they are dedicated to the need to appear superior to others; love is absent in these cultural entities.
2 Corinthians 11:2-3
"I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ."
May every believer understand what they are dealing with in these last days of apostasy, allowing the oppression of others toward us to roll off like water off a duck's back. When we know it isn't personal and that we did nothing to foster it, we can observe it without absorbing its poison.
Keep looking up, our Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon and we will be celebrating the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in all its glory!
No comments:
Post a Comment