WHERE DO I BEGIN by Tony Manley

Happy New Year!  Yes, I know it is the middle of January, but it is still a new year!  Before Christmas, I shared that Christmas was going to have a different look this year for me.  Truly, it was! Christmas is not the type holiday one can just show up and insert oneself into a family…Thanksgiving tends to lend itself to come one and all, whereas Christmas is more intimate and family oriented.  I can truly say two weeks with the Lord and my husband was ordained for me!  Anytime you spend that much time with the Lord and your husband, a lot of good gets done!

In the days to come, I hope to share many of the truths and surgeries I experienced during the Christmas break (keep in mind both are good, yet sometimes painful). Today, I want to share one of my “lessons” with you. As you read and process, feel free to comment either on your side of the screen or to me!  I need all the help I can get with making truth a reality in my heart to the extent it overcomes the natural man and becomes the natural overflow of the new man!

DIVISION, “DIS”UNITY, AND “DIS”CORD

NEGATE (HIDE)

THE POWER AND PRESENCE

OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST,

BUT

“UN”DERSTANDING, UNITY, AND “UN”SELFISHNESS PROMOTE (REVEAL)

THE POWER AND PRESENCE

OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.

I have had a wonderful time working this very elementary truth into my heart. Sometimes you have to go back to some basics before you can move forward.  As I looked around and thought about how many relationships and settings have been scarred or ruined, I thought about how often the response has been “But you don’t understand,” or “They don’t deserve or they do deserve______,” or “They started it.” Basically, all the reasons we give to encourage or entitle the “dis” of sin.  I became confronted that even in my heart, I will encourage and entitle myself to a broken or unhealed/unrestored hurt or wrong (a perfect example of a divided heart). Jesus said, a house divided cannot stand…a heart divided cannot be fruitful.  And basically, when I am in that place, the place of division or discord, I may not care who started it or why!  BUT, (I am so glad for the good buts - “But Christ died for us while we were yet sinners) the good news was I have been given the equipping presence of the Holy Spirit to unite, understand, and to undo any selfishness I have in me!  Freedom is the word for the “uns” and death is the word for the “dis.” 

Life is too short to hide any “dis” in my heart.  People are too instrumental in the molding process to ignore them.  Opportunities are too valuable to criticize or reject as uncomfortable or unfair.  Today, this minute, is the time to reveal and promote the power and presence of Christ. I am learning to ask myself in my thoughts, words, and actions, “Is this negating or promoting the person of Christ?”

Father, give me the courage to be an “un” for you today.  Amen