REACTING

"You will be accepted if you respond in the right way. But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it." --Genesis 4:7

 

So how do you respond when life knocks the wind out of you?...when you get less than what you think you deserve?....when friends betray?...when jobs go away?...when kids disobey? Have you ever considered the possibility that when "things going wrong" in your day (week or month) that it's a test of your emergency response system? I've found that crisis is a great revealer of who we really are. Do you get angry when you don't get your way? Then you're an angry person! Do you get depressed when friends leave you out of their plans? Then you're a depressed person. God allows crises to reveal who we are so that we can start down the path of healing. If you choose to run away and hide, then you won't get better...you'll get bitter! Sometimes we remove ourselves from the source of our discomfort only to discover that the pain was there for our gain--for our healing.

 

Sometimes people leave the church because they feel left out or they get their feelings hurt. Rest assured it happens to all of us--me too. The truth is that there is only one good reason to leave the church--That reason would be that God's Holy Spirit is drawing you on to your next assignment. A wise man once told me, "Make sure that you're running to something and not away from something!" If you're being led out--make sure that it's the Holy Spirit doing the leading and not some other spirit!

 

Today, let's choose to respond in the right way to whatever may come our way!