Please read part 1 if you haven’t already.

6. Love and truth can coexist

“…it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth”
1 Corinthians 13:6

A few years ago, I used to believe that love and truth can’t coexist, that was because of the lies that I believed from others. If you told the truth, then you weren’t ‘loving’. God was so kind and taught me about the characteristics of unconditional love in 1 Corinthians 13. It wasn’t until I read verse 6 that I had a revelation. If you truly love someone, you will warn them rather than turn a blind eye to their sin. If you are truly a friend, you wouldn’t encourage them to believe a lie but tell them the truth.

God continually warned the Israelites of their idolatry and abominations. He took no delight in their disobedience and when they hardened their hearts, they faced their consequences. All throughout the bible, men and women preached against unrighteousness and not everyone listened. If they didn’t listen to Jesus, don’t feel disheartened if they don’t listen to you. If the person continues to persist in their ways, continue to pray for them but do not fall into the trap of feeling like you’ve ‘failed’ God. You can only do your part and leave them with God.

7. People-pleasing is idolatry.

Growing up, I struggled a lot with low self-esteem. In fact, those who knew me really well would even say that I was a people pleaser. I cared a lot about what others thought of me, afraid to step out in faith and wanted to be accepted by many. It wasn’t until I read about the downfall of King Saul (1 Samuel 15) that I realized that fear of men is a form of idolatry.

Idolatry is more than just bowing down before a carved image. It’s giving the glory that only belongs to the Creator to a created thing. It’s anything or anyone that gets in the way of your obedience and worship to God. The bible says, ‘the fear of men is a snare but those who trust in the Lord are safe‘ Proverbs 29:25.

The fear of men is a trap. In our attempt to please people, we lose sight of the fact that our aim is to please God first. God is the only one that we answer to, and if God is with you, it does not matter who is against you. At the end of the day, when we stand before God and give an account, there is no excuse that we can use to justify our disobedience to Him.

8. Ask the Lord to search your heart (Psalm 139:23-24)

Sometimes you hear people say, “God sees my heart” which can be another way of saying “Don’t judge me”. It’s interesting that King David asks the Lord to search his heart. This verse shows us that we don’t always know what’s in our heart. Yes, God sees your heart but that doesn’t mean that we know what’s in our heart.

Sometimes the decisions that we make, on the outside appears good to others but God can tell that there is another agenda. There’s a reason why Jeremiah 17:9 says, ‘the heart is deceitful and wicked above all else, who can know it.’

This is why it’s so important to ask God daily to search our heart and test our thoughts. I never want to be out of alignment with God. Veering away from God doesn’t happen overnight, it happens slowly. It’s in the small compromises. When we pray that prayer, we must humble ourselves too. There’s no point asking God to search our heart and then we get defensive when He exposes things inside of us.

9. Take heed

Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands
take heed lest he fall. – 1 Corinthians 10:12

Paul reminds the church of the history of the Israelites and the temptations they faced along the way. This was mentioned as a lesson to the early church and it’s also a lesson for us too. The temptations that they faced in the wilderness and foreign lands, are still the same today.

The mistake we can make as Christians is to put our confidence in ourselves, in our flesh. You may even think to yourself, ‘that can never happen to me‘ and you may be right, but you’re not infallible. It is because of God, that you’re still standing.

We quote Proverbs 3:5-6 a lot. But if we read verse 7, the writer instructs us,‘Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and avoid evil’. Let us walk in the fear of the Lord. Don’t try to see how far is too far. The question we should be asking is, does this please God? God is faithful to keep us from stumbling. He will always show us the way out if we’re willing to obey Him.

10. You’ve fallen, but you will rise again

Over the years, I’m sure we’ve seen Christians fall. And maybe you haven’t fallen on a large scale, but we have all fallen short. Along with guilt and shame, condemnation is another feeling we’ve all experienced. Yes, we’ve repented, but condemnation seems to linger.

Condemnation is a strategy of the enemy to take our eyes off God and focus on ourselves. What usually happens is that it keeps us further from God.  Self-condemnation on the other hand is self-inflicted. It’s where you’re harder on yourself than God is.

I’ve come to realize that it can be subtle form of pride, where we feel like we don’t deserve God’s grace. And it’s true we don’t and yet when God’s grace is made available to us, we reject it. It’s almost as if you’ve told God that your failures are too big for Him. That your sin is too great, and the cross is not powerful enough to redeem you. If we continue to look down on ourselves and focus so much on our shortcomings, it stops us from looking up to the Father who is good.

I don’t know what you’re going through or the decisions that you’ve made, but I do want to ask you this. In 5 years from now, are you still going to settle in camp condemnation? There comes a point in our Christian journey where we must decide whether we stay down or get back up.

I’m reminded of Peter who denied Christ three times and wept in bitterness. This was the same Peter that Jesus said that he will build his church upon. When Jesus appeared to Peter in John 21, he could have said ‘Hey Peter, remember how you denied me three times?’ but He doesn’t.

He asks Peter, “Do you love [agape] me?” Each time Peter replied, Jesus said “feed my sheep”. As long as Christ was concerned, there was still work to be done. Jesus restored Peter. He is able to restore you too.

If the enemy is still bringing up your past, it’s time to dust off your bible and speak the word of God.  Jesus didn’t waste time arguing with the enemy in the wilderness. He kept saying, “It is written.”

You can read part 3 here.

God bless,
Susan.