God is bigger than the boogie man

It never fails. I start a blog post and by the end it has completely metamorphosed into something else. This is exactly what happened today. It excites me every time this happens because I start by writing a post of things that I feel I want to write about and along the way God begins to change my words and thoughts into what he would have me say instead. Many times the posts just get left unpublished because they end up being a word just for me. Other times I go ahead and share hoping my journey will speak to someone else as well. 

Today I began a post about mean people. Mean people are everywhere I just keep running into them. Most of the encounters aren't personal but they still get under my skin. A lot of the meanness or persecution I've seen lately has been against Christianity. There have been several stories in the local media lately that have given people the opportunity to slam Christianity. I find most of these slams in the comments under the media's posts on Facebook and I'm never sure what to do. Do I stand up for what I believe in? Do I just pray for those who are doing the slamming, as well as the innocent people being slammed? Or do I just start turning a blind eye and never clicking on comments of stories that I know will produce such hate. I'm reminded of John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." But what do I do?

This also got me to thinking about personal situations recently that have included meanness, some personal, some towards people close to me. And then what about situations where the meanness is coming from people who say they are your Christian brothers or sisters? And I'm not talking about someone having a bad day. I have days where I do or say things I wish I could take back. Situations where I feel guilty until I am able to speak directly to and ask forgiveness from the people I may have hurt. I'm talking about people who seem unfazed by their actions, who just carry on like you're the one in the wrong. God is showing me I am quite possibly going about these situations all wrong.

When I, as a Christian am not ready or unwilling to move on, I let the meanness of others affect me. I often let it bring out the meanness in me or let it bring me to a place of feeling like I surrender to weakness they seem to be accusing me of. What then am I portraying to nonbelievers? 

As the preacher preached Sunday morning from Mark (3:20-30), these situations are obviously the work of Satan to distract us from God. And it works! I need to begin to recognize these attacks for exactly what they are. I need to stop running around worrying about my hurt feelings or feeling that myself or the group being hated on (for lack of a better term) are unusable. 

"How can Satan drive our Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself that kingdom cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand, his end has come. In fact no one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man's house." (Mark 3:23-27) 

Giving up, dwelling on hurt feelings or the actions of others puts all the power in the wrong hands.

"The one who sins is the one who will die... The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them" Ezekiel 18:20 

I must learn to accept that I am not responsible for the actions of others. And as a wise woman told me recently, I cannot let the actions of others continue to determine my actions.

God has a plan and this plan is soo much bigger than anything I can begin to comprehend. That's why he doesn't tell me the plan. I must trust him that no matter what he calls me to do, no matter what mean people I encounter, I must trust him. He will not lead me down a path that does not lead straight to him. 

"Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

So what's the answer? God is bigger than everything. Quit worrying about the actions of everyone else. Quit worrying about what happens next. Love everyone. Pray. Do and speak everything in love. Trust in Jesus even when it seems like things are completely messed up. Stop letting mean people affect me.