I consider myself to be very devoted to God; any time I think of Him, it warms my heart. I have this incredible sense of how much He loves us. I'm deeply aware of what He has done for our family, and I am so grateful that He has chosen to show us His mercy, His grace, and His compassion. I know we have done nothing to deserve all this love that He has poured out to us, and it means so much to me that He would be willing to give so much of Himself to us. I'm totally in love with Him!
I guess that is why it is so baffling to me when people start debating all the "do's and don'ts".
The thing that made me think of this now is that Halloween was last night. Now, Leonard and I have been born-again Christians since 1983. Our oldest daughter was born in 1985, and our second daughter was born in 1988. In all that time, we always dressed our daughters up for Halloween and let them go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. I remember in the early days taking some flack for that from other Christian people....why would we celebrate the devil's day??
We could never understand how people could think we would ever celebrate the devil. We wouldn't. We couldn't. Not after all that God had done for us. We were just letting our girls dress up and go around to the neighbors getting candy. We especially loved going to the older people's houses... they so enjoyed seeing all the costumes and getting to hand out treats to the always-grateful little children! I look back very fondly at those memories, and consider it a very heartwarming tradition. I know there are probably people who think we are unwittingly opening ourselves up to something, and the devil will surely gain a foothold in our lives because we took our children out trick-or-treating. I just don't believe it. Our hearts belong to God. And I believe this, as with everything else, is a matter of the heart. God looks at our hearts, and I pray that He will always see our hearts are wholly for Him.
It's not just Halloween. These debates take many forms. I've heard the same sort of debates going on about playing cards, dancing, watching movies, drinking alcohol, etc., etc. Leonard hates playing cards, but I love to play! We both love to dance. And we watch all kinds of movies . . . some that others probably wouldn't watch. But there are certainly others we won't watch that maybe others would. When Leonard and I first got saved, we quit drinking altogether because we had just come out of a life of drinking in excess... OFTEN. But later in life we found that we could have a drink or two without ever being tempted to "over-indulge". That heart just wasn't in us anymore.
This isn't about seeing how much we can get away with. I can't speak for anyone else, but for Leonard and I, our lives are about living wholly for God. We want to show our love to Him, and we want to pour out the love He's given us to others. And if there's anything that makes us feel uncomfortable or that we feel could come between us and God, you can bet we will steer clear of it. I don't think we could ever be the type of people that follow a bunch of rules other people make whether they make sense to us or not. Our measuring stick is always Him. Do we always make the right decisions? Certainly not. But we trust that He will lead us in the way we should go. We know when He is speaking to our hearts. And we know the importance of listening when we hear it. He knows us better than anyone else ever could. So if God tells us to walk away from something, we walk away.
I guess the difference is, we don't expect everyone else should have to walk away with us.
I guess that is why it is so baffling to me when people start debating all the "do's and don'ts".
The thing that made me think of this now is that Halloween was last night. Now, Leonard and I have been born-again Christians since 1983. Our oldest daughter was born in 1985, and our second daughter was born in 1988. In all that time, we always dressed our daughters up for Halloween and let them go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. I remember in the early days taking some flack for that from other Christian people....why would we celebrate the devil's day??
We could never understand how people could think we would ever celebrate the devil. We wouldn't. We couldn't. Not after all that God had done for us. We were just letting our girls dress up and go around to the neighbors getting candy. We especially loved going to the older people's houses... they so enjoyed seeing all the costumes and getting to hand out treats to the always-grateful little children! I look back very fondly at those memories, and consider it a very heartwarming tradition. I know there are probably people who think we are unwittingly opening ourselves up to something, and the devil will surely gain a foothold in our lives because we took our children out trick-or-treating. I just don't believe it. Our hearts belong to God. And I believe this, as with everything else, is a matter of the heart. God looks at our hearts, and I pray that He will always see our hearts are wholly for Him.
It's not just Halloween. These debates take many forms. I've heard the same sort of debates going on about playing cards, dancing, watching movies, drinking alcohol, etc., etc. Leonard hates playing cards, but I love to play! We both love to dance. And we watch all kinds of movies . . . some that others probably wouldn't watch. But there are certainly others we won't watch that maybe others would. When Leonard and I first got saved, we quit drinking altogether because we had just come out of a life of drinking in excess... OFTEN. But later in life we found that we could have a drink or two without ever being tempted to "over-indulge". That heart just wasn't in us anymore.
This isn't about seeing how much we can get away with. I can't speak for anyone else, but for Leonard and I, our lives are about living wholly for God. We want to show our love to Him, and we want to pour out the love He's given us to others. And if there's anything that makes us feel uncomfortable or that we feel could come between us and God, you can bet we will steer clear of it. I don't think we could ever be the type of people that follow a bunch of rules other people make whether they make sense to us or not. Our measuring stick is always Him. Do we always make the right decisions? Certainly not. But we trust that He will lead us in the way we should go. We know when He is speaking to our hearts. And we know the importance of listening when we hear it. He knows us better than anyone else ever could. So if God tells us to walk away from something, we walk away.
I guess the difference is, we don't expect everyone else should have to walk away with us.
1 comment:
This was excellent! I've learned over the years that "Everything truly is a matter of the heart" and that is what I put in on Google just to see where it would take me...I picked this/your story/your sharing and I completely agree with it and appreciate reading about the love you have for Love/God. You love Love! God is Love.
I've been studying and writing down all the verses in the Holy Scriptures that talks about the condition of man's heart. In every single book of the Holy Scriptures it is the heart of each book..."The Matter of the Heart".
Just wanted to let you know that we walk in agreement on this point.
In closing, here is a "heartfelt" prayer from me to you:
In Jesus Christ's name you, Tracy, and your husband and children will have a wonderul, excellent and beautiful day today. You will have the energy and good mindset to do the things that God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit require of you today. You will be as mentally, physicall and spiritually healthy as God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spriit wants you to be today. You will all, effortlessly, be as a ray of sunshine on a cool day, a breath of fresh air on a hot and humid day and as a sweet treat to God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit as well as to all your family members, to everyone you come in contact with today and to yourselves.
Sincerely,
Marie
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