July 10, 2024

There are many people around me who think that God does not exist. As if He is a fairy tale or a fable, and the Bible is a storybook, and you probably recognize it from your own environment. Yet it also strikes me that even though they do not believe (Yet 😉), they do keep an eye on us. They observe how we behave, what we do, and how we do it and as soon as we make a “misstep” or react “not in a Christian way,” it is evidence for them to show that the entire Christian faith is a charade, not real and not sincere. /*! elementor – v3.22.0 – 24-06-2024 */ .elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px} “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” – Luke 9:23 There are plenty of people who are not sincere, unfortunately, also among Christians. God showed me a long time ago that believing in Him and actually following Him are two completely different things. There are plenty of people who believe in Him but do not follow Him. Following Him means taking up your cross (Luke 9:23) and dying to your own flesh. Surrender your life completely to Him, be rooted in His Word, hear His voice and be obedient to Him in everything He asks or sends you. When you say you believe in God, but act completely different, I can understand the unbelievers in the world become skeptical and keep an eye on us. Waiting for something they can catch us on and show that that crazy belief is hypocritical or fabricated. I didn’t realize that I was also being observed this way, by my own child, of all people…LOL. A memory of an elephant Before I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Redeemer, I had a pretty short fuse, or rather, no fuse at all. In the event of any setback, a nuclear reaction and explosion immediately occurred. In addition, I had the patience of a three-year-old, and I liked to proudly show everyone who bothered me the “most beautiful finger” on my hand (read: my middle finger). I was impulsive and could swear like a construction worker. Sigh, yes, really ‘ladylike’. Praise the Lord for taking care of me . Although I no longer react or behave like this, it is apparently still fresh in my children’s memories. Apparently they have the memory of an elephant! Some time ago, I had an argument with my youngest son over the telephone. Just the fact that we had an issue upset me so much that I just didn’t know how to act or respond. My boys (Sem, 18y and Daan, 16y) are both very easy-going, sensible, sweet, hardworking and social boys. Of course everyone is proud of their child, but honestly, mine are both so easy and sweet that I like to brag about it, LOL. I never have to make a fuss or get a rude mouth, they have never or hardly had puberty, they always ask if they can help me with something, and they actually always do what I ask of them without (much) complaining. Then perhaps you now understand why I was so surprised that my youngest son, Daan, and I had a disagreement this time. I was so surprised that I really had no idea how to respond to it, and out of powerlessness, and from my flesh, I raised my voice at him and “freaked out”. Smartly and out of nowhere, he responded, “I thought you wouldn’t do that anymore because of your faith”. Say WHUUUUTTTTT??? This made me even more pissed off, and we hung up angrily. I had some time to think about this: “What a big mouth that child had!” “What is he thinking? And then attack me for my faith! The nerve! As if you can’t get angry as a Christian, hello…I’m still human; no, the last thing hadn’t been talked about yet.” All went angrily through my head until the Holy Spirit started speaking to me: “In the Spirit, you have already received everything, including all the parts of the fruit of the Spirit, and what is part of this fruit? Right, patience. So you do have that patience, and you also have the same patience that Jesus has. In principle, your son is right; only you reacted in your flesh, and you must crucify your flesh. I want you to straighten this out with him.” OUCH! Not nice, but truth. Show Jesus In the Spirit, we have already received all the parts of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Now we have to renew our thinking (Romans 12:2) and learn how we can draw from that source that contains all those beautiful parts: Love, patience, joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, gentleness and self-control. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23 Another revelation for me, firstly that it was a lie in my thinking that “I am only human”, of course I am human, but how I react and solve things is a completely different story. Getting angry is one thing; there is also such a thing as parenting and righteous anger, but raising your voice and losing patience is another story. I had to give in to that smart-aleck teenager of mine right away. Yes, we are still humans, but how do we allow ourselves to be guided? Are we led by our flesh or by the Spirit? And if we unexpectedly allow ourselves to be led by our flesh, how do we solve it? Do we leave it for what it is, angry in our ego and in our flesh? Or do we listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and come back to it, start a conversation or offer an apology so that we