Obedient Child

Hypocritical people have surrounded me this week, and I'm growing tired of it. Not of the people, but of the hypocritical attitudes.

When I look at a person who doesn't know Christ, I can honestly say I don't expect anything better from them. But from a believer, it is completely unacceptable! 

How can you talk of Him, tell how He is your focus, call yourself a follower of Him, and yet turn around and cuss, drink, smoke, or even less bland, become immersed in a world that isn't of Him? You don't have to be drinking, smoking, or cussing to walk away from His will and image. It can be as simple as becoming angry with someone over something that has no eternal significance, yelling at someone, ripping them to pieces in your mind, let your mind wander somewhere it shouldn't be, or joining in with the normal gossip that the world deems acceptable.

So many Christians (myself included) seem to think that as long as you don't do the "bad" things, you are still walking in His will... We're fooling ourselves with that idea. It will only drag us into a cycle of pretending to be a person who follows His will. You cannot follow His will if you do not know His will. And you can not know His will unless you are saturating every part of your mind and day with His Word. The level to which you know His Word, you will know Him. 

"Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "You shall be Holy, for I Am Holy." 

And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each  man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth;" (1 Peter 1:13-17)

I read this passage this week after falling to a level of anger, hurt, and frustration.. I went through it over, and over, and over again. As His child, my hope is to be completely in Him... As an obedient child, I am not to be conformed to the same things that a person would be if they didn't know Him. As an obedient child, I am supposed to be like Him. HOLY. Set-apart. 

You cannot be angry over little things, harboring those hurt feelings, and please Him. It doesn't work. In the same way you can't have two faces, cuss, act impurely, or gossip. He showed me this this week, and it hurt.. I spent a lot of time praying about it, rereading this passage, and writing my hurt out to Him. I still don't understand why I was so incredibly upset.. But I do know that it was not of Him. The enemy saw a weak spot and he hit it with a vengeance, which got the reaction that he wanted. 

He hasn't won, though. He will not win. By the grace of God, and His grace alone, I will follow His lead... I am sure there will be moments where I won't show Him like I should. Moments where I become angry, or want to slip into the "easy" way of things. In those moments, He is showing me where I need to work.. What I need to let go of, who I need to forgive, where I need to let Him scrub off as He writes His words on my heart. It's a painful and humbling process. It's not fun, and it's hard for me to let Him do it when I feel like others look at me and think I'm inferior. But He is worth more to me than anyone else ever will be. And for Him? An obedient child is what I want to be.