Growth...as an adult

Have you ever wondered why, as you grow stronger in your faith and in your walk with God , the things you used to enjoy, have fun doing, had no problem with, etc. have lost their zeal, their sparkle, their shine?

Have you ever noticed that the partying, the drinking, the hanging around with people who cuss freely or say derogatory things about others . . . just the situations in general that you once found to be fun and gave you absolutely no worry . . . now you find to grate on you, rub you the wrong way, you take offense to and would rather make up an excuse to leave than stay in that atmosphere?

I sure have in the past several months. I find myself in situations where I am uncomfortable now around certain people or at certain places that I had never found to cause any problem with me before. After reading verses like 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial [the devil]? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?" I begin to understand why that is.

We are call to be in the world but NOT of the world. We are to be as salt and light. Salt was used as a preservative and a seasoning in Biblical times, and even insofar as up to the 1800's when there were no "ice boxes" to keep food from spoiling. Light is to shine on the darkness and keep the darkness away. We are to be DIFFERENT from everyone else so that they might see God in us and how He has changed our lives and make them want to know what makes us different, what makes us unafraid in times of turmoil, what keeps us calm during hardships.

I confess, when I'm really ticked off – yes, it is 99% of the time in traffic – I can let a few choice, unsavory words that are definitely NOT seasoned with Grace, fly from my mouth . . . but not when the kids are around. Why can't I be that way when the kids aren't around? I think that might be one of the biggest things I struggle with is the words that I say when confronted with stupid, not-paying-attention drivers.

But, there are now things that I would have said or done even a year ago that bring me pause now b/c it is the Holy Spirit pricking my conscience to let me know that it's wrong in the eyes of God. And then I remember back to when it didn't bother me and the people who act the same now and think, "We all consider ourselves Christian and I know that I was at that point, I just wasn't acting like it so what was there to distinguish me from everyone else? If someone who didn't know any of us saw us together, they never would have known that any of us called ourselves 'Christian'."

The closer I draw to God, the closer He draws to me and shows me what is not right in order to be more pleasing to Him. In order to be a better witness. In order to be salt and light to a world full of spoil and darkness. In order to see Jesus in me because, after all, I may be the only encounter with Jesus that someone has.

I am not perfect. Far, far, FAR from it. I am a work in progress always. And I know that I am a work in progress always b/c God will not be finished with me until it is my time to be called Home to be with Him.