Has this ever happened to you? You’re driving along in traffic and the 2 lane highway is merging into 1 lane. Traffic flows together but then someone decides to make a race out it…They fly past other cars (yes, illegally), trying to get as much in front of the rest of the traffic as they can. The lane starts to end and they are relentless, even to the point of running the other traffic off the road. It’s not their right of way, it’s the other cars-no matter. They want to be first, in front of other cars and they will do what they have to be in front, despite the legality, courteous driving or safety they disregard.

This sad display happened again last night while driving home. We watched in disgust as a minivan was persistent in racing the other traffic. They behaved as massive jerks! The kicker? We were horribly embarrassed to see a Christian bumper sticker and cross proudly displayed on their bumper. YIKES.

I know, this is a usual event in everyday traffic. Rude drivers with self-focus wins over safety-much less courteous driving. But seeing the Christian bumper strips on the rude driver was the smack in the face. WOW…and we wonder why or how believers can get such bad stereotypes assigned to them.

You may think this is no big deal. Why am I writing and whining about such a trivial thing as yet another jerk driver?

Well…I think this does matter. We who profess to be followers of Christ are supposed to be different. Different than the rest of the world. Different in how we behave—to each other and to everyone.

We can’t get caught up in the idea of our behavior only matters with church related activities. Or how we ‘really’ feel in our hearts is all that matters and our treatment of others isn’t a big deal.

• What about when your nonbeliever friend makes a substantial donation to a church but no one even offers a ‘thank you’

• A brand new believer is nervous about being around ‘church’ people but gathers the nerve to enter a new bible study group only to have plastic smiles- they sit alone wondering why they are bothering at all

• You’re busy, you’re distracted and you have a zillion things to do. You rush thru your days and never realize the people in your path that you mowed over, ignored and all that they longed for was a kind word and smile from a stranger.

• We lift our hands in praise and voices in song but don’t lift a finger to be polite to someone

I’m not trying to make anyone feel guity. We’re all guity of something like this at some time. I know I’ve done things I’m definitely not proud of…and that’s just the instances I’m aware of! Hopefully just awareness, something to make us have a half second of thinking again about our actions, may make the difference to someone. Are we really doing anything different than our nonbelieving counterparts if we’re just as rude in traffic, rude in the grocery store, ignore the needs around us?

I guess the biggest shock (and I have no idea why this would shock me) is the treatment some have towards other believers. The bible tells us to lift one another up. We look for other sisters or brothers in Christ then treat them like something on the bottom of our shoes. What has happened to us? We’ve become numb it seems.

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“I have to get to the next thing on my list & don’t’ have time to say hi to that other mom. She’s annoying anyhow’
BUZZ…ZAP!

Rushing through a store to make it to the next appointment, we run off without a smile or thanking the clerk.

BUZZ ZAP!

Nothing earth shattering, I know. But the basic manners of saying hello, offering a smile, being POLITE, saying thank you…these things are a basic ‘must to’ for many of us but its shocking to see how little its displayed.

So…just a reminder fellow traveler… do a quick check of yourself…if your mother & Jesus were standing next to you, would you behave/speak this way? Just a little check!

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Romans 12:16
Philippians 2:5
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus
Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,

Link up with Kelly Balarie…..

It’s been something of a struggle. Trusting God in the midst of our daily walk when things are NOT going the way we pray or hope or want. This makes me take a closer look at TRUST in general…Can we really trust God to handle all the details? It doesn’t look like He’s doing much at times so how do we keep trusting Him? We know he is CAPABLE but WILL he come through for us?

I think back over instances where I just ‘knew’ you, Lord, would rescue me from a situation. You didn’t. It makes me uneasy with the trust question. Do I trust you could have rescued me? Yes. But you didn’t. So it makes me say I don’t know if I can trust you to save me from a situation. You CAN but WILL you?
I don’t know why you didn’t rescue me from certain things….you did rescue me from some situations, but not others. So in my human mind, it says I can’t trust you to swoop in for a rescue mission every time since you haven’t in the past. In a deeper thought…because I wasn’t rescued doesn’t mean you didn’t pay attention or didn’t care. It means for whatever reason, usually one I don’t personally like, you chose to not rescue me. This is where many people get trapped with their faith. How can someone who professes to love me let me suffer? Let me go thru bad situations? If you love me, you’d rescue me.

WAIT
This is what we see from our perspective. But there is a bigger picture here we don’t see. Frankly when we’re in this mess, we don’t care to see it. We just want out. I think of examples with my own children. They are in a situation that is bad…either of their own making or it just worked out that way. They want me to fix this. But if I swoop in and fix the situation, they never learn how to deal with it on their own or how to look at alternatives or how to maneuver thru struggle. We call this ‘tough love’ sometimes.

Maybe this is what is at hand when you don’t rescue us from a situation. We don’t care about learning some lesson or making ourselves more resilient, we just want out. But it’s not what’s best for us, and we can’t see that. You can. Back to trust…
I discovered in the Jewish bible, the word for ‘faith’ is ‘trust’. What a great perspective—faith IS trust!

“But the person who is righteous will live his life by trust” Romans 1:17 (CJB)

Do we trust you Father? Trust that you really do love us? Really to have what is best for us in your plan? If we’re in an uncomfortable or even horrible position, we just want a rescuer…we don’t care about learning a lesson. But that’s our limited viewpoint. You see the big picture the better good that will eventually come from something.
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So please forgive me Father. For all the times I scream and cry that you don’t care enough, love enough to rescue me. Help my unbelief father in trusting you to be the ultimate provider for my good!

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4.20

So why all the suffering and leaving us to go thru the ICK when you could so easily rescue us? I think back to the sufferings of Christ…and if he had to suffer, why would I think I shouldn’t?

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered…Hebrews 5:8

I see from your word that the sufferings teach us obedience. It teaches us to be strengthened in our faith. I hadn’t realized how much a lack of trust is rebellion against you. Your word has stories how your followers rejected your leading due to lack of belief-lack of trust—which really is a form of rebellion.

There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.” In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go. Deuteronomy 1:31-32

It just seems so exhausting to know it’s a constant walk of battles…thankfully we have already won the battle—we just sometimes don’t realize it and keep battling the wrong things.
Thank you for the victory Father! I DO trust you do what is best—help me in my wavering trust at times! Sometimes just trusting will be my sacrifice.


Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord. Psalm 4:5