Relationships & Peacemaking

Don’t use your “personality” as an excuse!

Many times when I’m talking and praying with women, I hear things like this:

– “But that’s just the way that I am!”

– “SHE needs to ACCEPT ME!”

– “No one talks to me at church! I sit there every Sunday and NO ONE approaches ME. Same thing at women’s Bible study. So THAT’S why I’m not going ANY MORE.”

I think about this a lot because I am so often tempted to say those EXACT SAME THINGS.

And yet … and yet …

– Didn’t Jesus come to save you from that “just the way that I am”-ness? (paraphrasing Patsy Clairmont)

– Are we called to BE accepted or TO accept–just as the Lord accepts us? (Romans 5:7)

– Isn’t it OUR responsibility to greet people on a Sunday morning or at a Bible study? Aren’t we called to LOVE (not to BE loved)?

 

But it’s not easy, is it?

I’m actually quite “introverted” — meaning, I prefer to be ALONE and if I have to have TOO MUCH interaction with people, it easily exhausts me. (People always think this is strange because I am so comfortable speaking in front of hundreds & hundreds of people. But it’s me!)

And yet … LOVE COMPELS ME to seek to serve and bless. Remembering what D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote in his (fantastic!) book, “Spiritual Depression”:

‘Temperament is a gift from God, but as a result of the Fall, and of sin, temperament is to be kept in its place.’

We are affected by our personalities, but the HOLY SPIRIT rules our lives.

Thank You, Lord!

And love to you all,
Tara B.