This is a major thing that trips me up emotionally and keeps me stuck:
I, at some point, placed "niceness" as a character trait that is vastly important.
This manifests itself in the following ways:
I am quick to label or excuse other people. Ex. Someone snaps at me and I assume they are having a bad day or that I somehow stepped on their toe. This drive for niceness has gotten better with maturity. Much better, actually. I used to NEED to be liked. Now. I understand that people aren't going to like me at all and for all sorts of reasons. And that is the way it is. I'm okay with that. However the issues that still bother me are things like owing someone a favor. I would rather have someone else owe me $5.00 for the rest of our lives than for me to owe someone a dollar. I also hate to ask people for their time, I would rather do without than put them out.
How does this affect my life? I don't want to waste people's time. My violin lessons stress me out because if I don't do well, I feel like I'm wasting my teacher's time. I don't like to ask for favors because I feel like people are busy and I don't want to add to their stress. My business suffers from this too, because I need to ask people to share opinions, try stuff out, have a party or invest fifteen minutes in a phone call.
On the flip side. I really struggle with folks who are users. When someone doesn't hesitate to ask for something he/she has no business asking for I honestly am shocked. Selfish people, the ones out for number one, irritate me and I honestly avoid them because of their selfishness. Even worse are the selfish folks who won't come out and tell you what they want, need or expect and expect you to go the extra mile to read their minds and follow their unspoken instructions.
Maybe that is the bottom line of my issue. That I equate the word nice with unselfishness and I feel compelled to be unselfish in my behavior. Hmmm. But niceness can be manipulative and dishonest and just as selfish. So clearly, I need to separate these words and put them into proper context.
I think I need to understand the difference between the definition of nice and the following words. Kind, respectful, gentle, agreeable, pleasant, laid back, unselfish, reliable, sweet and I need to redefine what I expect of myself. I can't help but notice that some of those words appear as the Fruit of the Spirit.
Where my violin is concerned, I need to understand that a) I am paying him so if I waste time, it really is only mine. I owe him respect and kindness. I need to be agreeable and have a can-do and will-try attitude. He doesn't like it when I get discouraged and he tries to encourage me so I need to make that easier for him by not letting my errors and struggles defeat me.
In my business, I need to remember that the products I represent and business I've chosen are lifesavers for so many people. The woman who buys lottery tickets hoping to escape her 40 hour work week grind of a job, the people who have given up dreaming, the young mom who wants to stay home with her kids, the young professional who is buried in student debt, the woman who looks in the mirror and hates what she sees, the mom who is concerned with what she puts on her baby's skin. It is not selfish for me to offer this to others, it would be selfish for me to pick and choose those who I'll share it with.
I'll do some definition investigation and be back with it tomorrow.
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WHY DO MEN REJECT OR NOT UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH?
What are the reasons men reject, abandon, or do not understand the truth concerning God, His terms for pardon, or His commandments for living the Christian lifestyle?
THE REASONS!
John 12:42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue;
Are there men today who do not confess Jesus as the Christ because they fear being ostracized or banished by their secular friends, antiChristian groups, or other religions?
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
Why will these men perish? 1. They were deceived by wickedness. 2. They did not love the truth. 3. They chose not to believe the truth. 4. They took pleasure in wickedness. NOTICE: God sent a deluding influence so they would believe what was false after they had rejected the truth.
Matthew 24:5 For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.
Matthew 24:11 Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.
Many are and will be mislead away from the truth about Jesus.
No man has to be mislead. It is a choice.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Men who sincerely seek God will not be mislead.
Roman 10:14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
Men cannot believe the truth about Jesus unless they have heard the truth preached.
2 Peter 3:16-17 as also in his letters, speaking in them of things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall your own steadfastness,
The reasons some men do not understand some difficult passages of Scripture and teach error, are, that they are untaught, unstable, and unprincipled.
WHAT ARE THE REASONS MEN DENY THE CLEAR MEANING OF ACTS 22:16?
Acts 22:12-16.... Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name!
What would be the reason that men say, Saul had had his sins forgiven on the road to Damascus three days prior?
What would be the reason why that men would say, Saul had had his sin forgiven because of "faith only" the moment he believed three days ago on the road to Damascus?
Why would men deny that even though Saul was confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus, and repented three day prior to arriving at Damascus, that Saul was still in his sins until he was baptized in water calling on the name of the Lord? (Acts 9:1-19, Acts 22:1-16, Acts 26:12-18)
Saul's sins were not washed away until he was baptized in water calling on the name of the Lord. Saul was not saved on the road to Damascus.
WHY DO MEN REJECT OR NOT UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH?
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