Passionately WRONG!

Have you ever felt so strongly about something and was so very passionate about it that at that time, no one could convince you that you were wrong?  I have.  Before I gave my life to Jesus Christ and even in the very beginning of my walk with God, I had adopted ideas on many subjects that were based on my opinions and my feelings.  Opinions and feelings are dangerous when they're not backed with Biblical knowledge.  Yet, the more that I read my Bible and listened to The Holy Spirit, the more I saw  that I was wrong about some of the passionate stances I was taking.  I quickly saw for myself, in The Word of God, what God thought about these areas.  And then when I understood what He said, I had a choice to make, either surrender what I thought to what God thought or continue to go against The One that I was now saying was My Lord.  I chose to submit to Jesus and His Ways and not my own.

As time passes, I saw how wrong I really was about so many things.  As time passes, I am convinced I will see how wrong I am about many more things.  Before Paul gave his own life to Jesus Christ, he was passionate about not only opposing Jesus, but he caused many Believers in Jesus to go to prison, voted for them to die, punished them and killed many of them.  Paul truly believed and was passionate that what he was doing was right, good, and the best thing for all.  But he was wrong.  And it wasn't until he totally surrendered his ways for The Ways of Jesus, that he saw how wrong he was.  

Is there some 'thing' or 'things' that The Holy Spirit has been bringing to your attention that you are believing, backing, saying, or doing, that is against what The Word says about it?  Are there opinions, views, or beliefs, that you have had that are against what God’s views and beliefs are?  Do you even KNOW what God's opinions, views, and beliefs are?  Or are you blindly and unknowingly living wrong?  

Let me encourage you as one, like Paul, who has been passionate, but wrong in the past.  ALLOW THE BIBLE TO BE YOUR SOURCE AND BASIS OF EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE, NO MATTER WHAT THE SUBJECT!   When someone asks you what you think of a certain issue or topic, go to The Word of God and tell them what God says about it.  My opinion doesn't matter.  My feelings don't matter...and neither do yours.  I didn't create this world and I certainly didn't create YOU!  "What God thinks is what I think and His opinion is my opinion.”  God wants to use each of us and He wants us to be passionate.  We just need to check ourselves to see if what we are passionate about, is right or wrong.  Be Passionate. But...Be Right.

Scripture of the Day:  “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene. Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.”  - Acts 26:9-11 

Needless to say, Paul went on from this passionate stance above to live a life completely opposite of these passionate beliefs.  He admitted how passionately wrong he was every day of his life and from him we have a multitude of instruction on living exactly the opposite of those prior beliefs of his.  

What is the Holy Spirit nagging you about in your heart?  What are the people who love you teasing, talking, and joking with you about that upsets you, in an effort to make you stop and examine God's word on what you're believing or doing?  Are you angry at people who love you because you believe how you're living is right and that they're just judging you?  Do you feel supported by others who have less knowledge of God's word than you?  Do you feel persecuted by others who don't?  

Here's my advice...Check yourself before you wreck yourself!  And, before your example causes many to turn from their Lord and Savior, or worse, never to see Him at all. Go to His word, not mine, not your friends, and ask Him what He feels and thinks and find His instruction.  Then you have a choice to make because He gives us the free will to choose whether we follow Him or not. 

Live like Him or die like you!  Your choice!