Am I?
Sometimes I feel I am too pushy. Maybe I am.
Just this morning I was reading Titus (haha. A book so short that I often just skip it) and my meditation was on Chapter 2 verses 11 to 13, which says: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and saviour Jesus Christ.
I then turn to Hebrews 10 and read about wilful or deliberate sinning.
I then turn also to 1 Pet 3:16 and Acts 24:16 that talks about having a clear conscience.
And because we have the Holy Spirit in us, I know that everytime I sin (deliberately or not), I do not have a pure (Synonym of Clear) conscience. It pricks and woah, I hate it!
I kept telling myself that.
But, I know I can be pushy and I know I can be “imposing” my stance on others too. I suck!
So today…We were having dinner and after dinner, Jeremy got a waffle for Jie Yao. While nearing the entrance of the library, I turn and ask Jeremy “Are you going to bring that in?” He asked “Why not?” I asked a dumb question, “Is that cooked food or not?” Dumb questions because we’re not even suppose to have tit-bits in the library. Logically, it didn’t matter whether it was cooked food or not – we’re still not supposed to be eating in the library! (I am super guilty of this. Whenever I eat in the library, I struggle because my stomach is growling but my conscience pricks whenever I take a bite!) I looked at Jeremy and it seemed as if he was going to bring it into the library, I do not know what is running in the heads of Zhi Wei and David. They jolly well could be just seeing what Jeremy’s reaction would be (and mine). With my morning devotion at the back of my head, I quoted Hebrews 10:26 and Acts 24:16 to Jeremy. (And I felt like a total jerk for imposing my stance on him!) He then gave the waffles to the lady at the entrance counter and called Jie Yao to come out to get his waffle – eat before he enter the library.
I do not know how they felt. Probably a little pissed with Jee Lee – maybe if she didn’t say anything, Jie Yao could have eaten in the library. I don’t know. As I said earlier, I felt like a jerk but when I got back to my seat, I got out my Bible and I felt I didn’t do a wrong thing. Well, I’m just reminding my fellow brother to do the things that God would have wanted us to do – be law-abiding and thus, not eat in the library.
Now, I’m asking myself why don’t I stop friends from eating in the library? All I thought was “I can’t impose my stance on other people, so I let them do what they want to do. I keep my conscience clear and I don’t eat.”
Argh. I need to find a balance – not imposing my stance on other people and yet helping my fellow brothers and sisters to walk in a manner that is pleasing to God. First of all, should I see it as my stance or should I see it as God’s commandments? Argh. I don’t know. Someone tell me please?
A few things are for sure.
1) If you want to live a life that is in adherence to the Bible, be sure to anticipate “You’re-weird” looks from your friends.
2) I need to remind myself that God will be my judge at the end – not my friends.
3) No matter what others say, God’s words should be my top-most-important assurance. (As I was feeling jerky and all, God brought me to Psalm 119 and reminded me to have the attitude of the psalmist, which is to always have His word carved in my heart.)
4) I do not know what is the best way to help fellow family members (You should know who I refer to) to walk in a praise-worthy manner.
posted by -- J e e L e e -- @ 11:25 pm
6 Comments
6 Comments:
let's not impose our stance on other people. i don't understand sometimes why people make such a huge fuss about food in the library, printing notes etc.. it just doesnt make sense.
Hmm...I don't know about you but when people make such big fusses, it's about adhering to rules and regulations isn't it? so how?
And, erm....u are?
i think it's okay if u wanna adhere to those things urself, but i dun believe we should impose these things on others. one thing that made me pretty upset was how people would go around telling everyone that they deleted all their pirated songs and how they were glad that they 'obeyed the Lord'. more and more i'm convinced, that deleting or not those songs, or printing only 10 percent of books does not bring u closer to God.
u see, in s'pore, we arent allowed to make mp3 files out of CDs we buy, technically. in the states, u can make as many copies as u want as long as it's for ur own use. so if u haf 3 houses and 5 cars, and another 10 ipods, u can make 18 copies of the same song. u can even copy it for ur wife and that's perfectly legal! so who's closer to the Lord? the man who doesn't make any copy here in S'pore? the man who makes 18 copies in the states? how about the man who makes 1 copy for his personal use here but doesnt know it's illegal?
no offence, just sharing my POV. :)
Hmm....I don't remember saying that if you adhere to the law, you're closer to the Lord. You see, my problem is this, Bible clearly says adhere to the law. And so this is what I try to do - not because adherence to the law brings me closer to God (because that would kinda point to saying that salvation is by works). Anyhow, my issue here is that in my adherence to the law, I also feel (or maybe remembered the bible saying something about this)that we should help fellow brothers and sisters to live their lives right. But, in my trying to help fellow brothers and sisters to live right, I might seem as if i'm imposing my stand on others. So, how? Ya.....I'm not saying that I am closer to God just because I adhere to law(NO WAY I am trying to drive that point!). I am asking for opinions on how I should be. Ya...No offence taken! :)
And I hope no offence to you too. You do sound a bit pissed.
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