Is God’s Heart or Your Hateful Heart Controlling Your Destiny?
Have you ever discovered, inside yourself, a prejudice you were unaware? As women, we see them all the time and most of us swear we would never have one BUT we do. They are a product of our surroundings and never see the light of day until we are questioned about it. A situation will arise to bring it into the light and it doesn’t like the light. It would prefer to remain in the dark where no one sees it (presumably) and we continue to deny its existence. We enjoy being fooled by our outgoing, warm and unbiased attitude. We know better as humans this should not be so and we hate that we hate and we want to put an end to it if we love Jesus. There are only two solutions to overcome a prejudice putting an end to it, admit the prejudice and turn from it.
Ignorance is not Bliss in the Eyes of the Lord!
Remaining ignorant about our feelings toward certain people is not what God wants from us. How will we be able to serve anyone from behind this veil. Admitting a prejudice is very difficult especially if we see ourselves justified in our hatred. The wall we built last week is not to keep our prejudices in but to keep trouble out. If I am to do what God has called me to do, all of my prejudices must be brought into the light so His heart can shine on others. If I do not admit them, the women I am serving will become prejudiced like me. I remember when God first called me out on my prejudice against abusive men. He brought it into the light and I was not happy to turn from it. It gave me comfort to see an abuser punished but ignorance is not Bliss in the Eyes of the Lord because we know as Christian,s we have all fallen short! As much as I believed women were more deserving of Elohim’s heart, men also need to see His heart to turn from their sin. Worse than dealing with my hatred, for me, was knowing I would be responsible for teaching women to hate men. Elohim continually makes me deal with my prejudices so I will have a pure heart when He sends me to serve a woman. Women need to see the pure love I have for them, along with every other person, so when they come out the other side of their affliction their prejudices are not in control of their destiny. Elohim shines a light on our prejudices so we will turn from them.
Allow Love to Control our Destiny!
Jesus gave us one commandment to follow in the Scriptures “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 If we look at the love Jesus showed, even during the times when His friends did not understand Him, we will fully understand what He has said in this verse. We know each disciple admitted in the end, they were prejudice against others because of their laws (not God’s but man’s added laws), they turned from it and preached the gospel to all mankind including those whom were forbidden by the law such as women and children, undesirables and the disabled. Yes, they failed in human relations and had to be corrected. Yes, they failed in loving everyone and had to be corrected but this shouldn’t discourage me or you it should encourage us to do the same. Turning from my hatred of anyone for one reason or another is what Jesus was talking about when He said to love one another. He was talking to His disciples about the love they have for each other, for others to see and desire. He was the most forward thinking person of His day because He consistently gave examples of loving those we are prejudiced against by saying turn the other cheek or walk the extra mile. In other words He was saying “turn from it!” We need to turn from our prejudices because that hatred will eat us alive one day. When we turn from hatred we allow love to control our destiny! That is God’s heart for us!
Let God’s Heart not our Hateful Heart Control our Destiny!
Admitting a prejudice is extremely hard because most times it is ingrained in us from even an early age. We use prejudices, as if they are truths, to deny people the mercy they need. Elohim said He desires mercy, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6 Prejudices take many forms such as pet peeves, partiality, preconceived notions, cultural and hierarchy biases. Each one of us has experienced these, and unfortunately, been guilty of these. None of that concerns us more than doing what God has instructed us to do. If we are to improve our life skills we must understand God’s heart toward people and what He deems important with regards to our destiny. The salvation of man is more important than any agenda, any hatred or any sacrifice. We cannot serve the whole person if we teach them to be biased as we are biased. Our Lord wants us to rid ourselves of each and every prejudice and take on His heart for the salvation of His Children. Ask Him today to reveal each bias you have, so when you present yourself for service, you are only revealing God’s Heart for His Children.
