My Little Bit Of Truth

Faith

Faith is a very personal experience. No two people will ever experience it exactly the same. No two people will ever be exactly in the same place on their journey of faith.

Maybe you've been somewhere someone else hasn't been, maybe they've been somewhere you haven't. People are different, their lives are different, their intellect and emotions are different.

It's an old cliche, "Walk a mile in my shoes," but it is an appropriate statement. It is a universal truth that we cannot judge someone because we don't know them completely nor do we have unlimited understanding of their path.

I have enough of a challenge managing my own life and I know I am not qualified to tell you how to manage yours. I learned in my journey of faith that personal lessons come at high prices and our experiences are the teachers who most deeply impact our lives and thinking.

I am familiar with scripture being used like a baseball bat to bash my spirit. Let me tell you, that doesn't work. It usually causes a negative reaction in most people. If you don't learn how to temper knowledge with wisdom you will become a destructive force to the faith of others.

Most of the time we see only the tiny tip of the ice-burg of who a person really is. That tip is not nearly enough to know who they are and what they live and believe. If you think you need to correct their thoughts and help them see things your way, you will usually find only resistance to your influence. Who's to say your way is the way they should or are meant to think?

Maybe you are super spiritual, maybe they aren't but then again, maybe there is something below that tip of the ice- burg you can't see or even imagine. Still waters often do run deep and it's not always the loudest bird who has the most effective voice. Crows make more noise than doves but the dove's soft coo is much more pleasant and inviting than the crow's screams.

Walk your path of faith, allow others to walk theirs. If they need to change then let their Creator deal with that, he is infinitely more qualified than you to refine their faith and correct their thinking. He knows the shoes they walk in and the path they have traveled...you don't. If you want to be a messenger for God, learn how to love, learn some tolerance for those who may not think as you do. Project some respect for others. Learn how to be a healing force, not just a force. Realize that you don't have complete truth about everything, only a portion of it. When you have it all then you can pressure others to accept your view.

If you believe deeply in God, think and live a particular way because you feel it is what pleases Him, that's a good thing but it becomes a bad thing when you judge those who don't believe or live like you do. It must be a terrible burden to think you have to "Teach" everyone all the time. When it comes to spiritual instruction, often less is more. If someone is not asking for your spiritual instruction it's because of one or both of two reasons, they don't need it or they don't want it. Either way you are shouting into the wind and making no lasting or good impression on the one you are trying to impress.

It is virtually impossible for anyone to read poetry or articles and know where the author or poet stands spiritually. It is only a very tiny glimpse into who they are, not an overview of their life or their spiritual condition. Maybe it's fiction, maybe it's not but the one who wrote it is the only one who knows for sure. If it's non fiction you can't just read it and have divine insight into why they wrote it and how it relates to their life and heart.

Learn to show some respect, it is not your responsibility to set everyone straight and have them see things the way you have seen them. If you think they need help, pray for them, don't continue to push them with your thoughts and with scriptures. Save the teaching for the place where you present your thoughts and people go to read you or for Sunday school where people willingly come to hear you teach. Don't use your words on the place that belongs to another writer's words to contradict or belittle their thoughts. If they are wrong in your estimation, that is their right and business. Their place for expression is not the place to try to override their thoughts with yours. I don't do that to you, I would appreciate the same courtesy.

Maybe you are just bursting with knowledge you feel comes from God, that doesn't mean you have to instruct everyone all the time. The Bible is an uncensored book, anyone can read it, maybe the people you think know nothing about it are more familiar with it than you are!

If a person doesn't believe in God, slapping them in the face with your religious beliefs is a sure way to make them glad they don't believe in Him. They will tune you out and it won't take long. To quote the scriptures, "If any man thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing as he ought." Take a step back and realize we are all learning faith and love. Remember that honest love administered with ample humility is the only thing that will help anyone along their journey.