Saturday, January 10, 2009

Who’s Fool Are You?


“We are [looked upon as] fools on account of Christ and for His sake, but you are [supposedly] so amazingly wise and prudent in Christ! We are weak, but you are [so very] strong! You are highly esteemed, but we are in disrepute and contempt!
(It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We're something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street. We're the Messiah's misfits. You might be sure of yourselves, but we live in the midst of frailties and uncertainties. You might be well-thought-of by others, but we're mostly kicked around.)”

I love more and more how in growing in the true knowledge of God the Father’s total unconditional love for me; I don’t really mind being seen as a fool, His fool.
There is such a stigma that tries to embed itself into our identity in being duped into saying, doing stuff simply because of believing what someone else has said, and all the while sensing from the get-go something was not right about it.

This is all leading to something that spoke to me this morning in reading an article by Chip Brogdan, “DISCERNMENT: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH.”

Here is an excerpt from the article. “As more and more voices try to get our attention we need to be able to distinguish between true, false, innocent, and dangerous. Christ-centered discernment recognizes and approves of those things that lead to Christ, while rejecting and refusing to be influenced by the things that distract from Him. And believe me, there are more things that distract than there are things that lead to Him.
Most people have great discernment but they don't trust it. They don't give themselves permission to say "no" to something that is wrong. They put aside their uneasiness and for the sake of "unity" and "keeping the peace" they permit things that should not be permitted.
Please consider this week's article in that light. Even the Question and Answer was carefully selected as yet another example of why trusting your own discernment is so important. Don't ever be led around by someone else's opinions when you can be led by the Spirit. The crowd is usually wrong."


You can read the whole article here.

Rich

2 comments:

Ruth said...

Hi there Rich,
well said once again. I like how
what you share and express on here completely centres around how we are loved unocnditionally.

I am in the midst of a few battles as of late once again. In the one instance i should've trusted my discernment so i am in a bit of a heap over that. but we are learning and growing arent we, and as you reinforce, we are truly loved deeply whereever we are, (the heap) .

thanks , ruth

Rich said...

Ruth,

As the increased true knowledge of our Fathers intense love for us impacts within our knower, we are freed to live out of that reality without being consumed with fear.

I loved what Chip expressed in his thoughts, it is always about Life or death, and the spirit of our Father constantly wants to lead us into fuller expressions of that life.
He is so good!!