Use His Moods...

A few days ago...

I got online to check my e-mail and an article caught my eye: Use his moods to get what you want.

Seriously. That's what it said.

I had to read it a few times, because I REALLY wanted to not believe that I was reading what I was reading.

I ended up having to close out and walk away for a few minutes.

It just breaks my heart to think about it... to think people are going to read that... to think that it made the front page...

... to think people are going to follow it!

It's just so manipulate.

And scheming.

And deceptive.

And lying.

And conniving...

BUT I guess it's a little bit like that serpant in the garden...

I guess it's been a little bit like this from the beginning...

I guess not so much has changed since then.

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made." Genesis 3:1

The scary thing is... even though I know - God's Word tells me over and over that Satan is alive and real... that he is incredibly deceptive, crafty, and smart. Even though I know that - sometimes I start to forget it. Sometimes part of me just begins to forget that he is wanting to attack me; that he's just itching to distract me from Christ. That he's dying, thirsting for my blood... for my heart.

I pray constantly that I won't forget, AND YET... even still sometimes I forget.

I didn't read that article. Part of me wanted to, but I decided I didn't want - or need - to know anything past the title.

The title was plenty.

It makes me wonder why I am so surprised when I hear of another broken marriage. Why I wonder why people - even believers - struggle so much with loving one another in a Biblical way.

AND yet...

as believers, we're told exactly how we're supposed to treat each other.

Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. 1 Timothy 5:1-2

I think that rules out "Using His Moods to Get What You Want". Sorry girls.

We're supposed to treat each other as brother and sisters.

I think that means we treat each other with love, respect, and a pure motive and heart. I think that means we should seek God together. We should serve Him together. We should fellowship together. But I don't think that ever means we manipulate each other. I think that means we don't play games, we don't 'test the waters', and we definitely don't use each other.

I wish so much that I could sit down and have a cup of coffee with every single person who read that article and took it to heart. I wish I could take that writer our for a few cups of coffee. Because I just think that anyone who has practiced using someone must have a heart so broken... It must be shattered. I don't care what they say... I just get the sense that they must have been hurt badly. I want to give them a hug and tell them I know... I've had my heart hurt so badly and so deeply that I spent hours on my knees praying that I wouldn't become cold hearted... I wanted desparately to not be hurt anymore, I didn't want to let anyone in. I thought if I didn't let anyone in close then they couldn't hurt me. But I know now that that kind of life isn't what we're called to. I pray that if I get hurt, God uses it. But I desparately pray I won't become cold hearted...

And I think people who use someone like that don't know real love. I guess they couldn't since they don't know Christ. Since they don't know true love in it's purest, most wonderful form... They obviously don't know it in its selfless, pure, giving form...

That is so sad. That seems so cold.

It seems plastic and stagnant.

It seems so horrible...

I pray we'll know how to love each other like brothers and sisters... that we'll seek out Christ first...

Because he offers as an abundant life... a wonderful, beautiful life. A life above circumstances...

If only we'll just listen. If only we'll just figure out how to make it work, because I know it can. If only we'll just work to be more like Christ and less like the world...

... if only...