Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket
Photobucket PhotobucketPhotobucketPhotobucket Photobucket

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Right, Lovely, Admirable ...

Pin It (continuation from yesterday)

The oldest and I had a discussion about convictions yesterday, and how the Lord is perfectly capable of convicting me one way and someone else another way. That is a TOUGH thing to understand! If I am just now grasping that, at 41 years old, how can I hope for my 12 year old to get it? That if one family has this set of convictions, believing firmly that the Lord gave them to them, and we have THIS set of convictions, also believing firmly that the Lord gave them to us, and they're different convictions, how can they be from the same Lord? How does that work?

It just does though. It's not a salvation issue. The Lord knows our weaknesses, and I think a lot of the time He puts convictions in us to protect us from areas which would harm us. Our convictions are not going to save us, and are not for me to pass judgment on anyone when their convictions are different than mine. And not only that - the convictions I have today may totally change over time and the Lord's leading. Tough concept.

(Personal example - a few years ago, I firmly believed that EVERY Christian family should homeschool. Oh my. Very naive of me, and I am thankful that the Lord kept His hand firmly over my mouth before I decided that my convictions should be shared and enforced upon everyone else. Oh, and that I should stand in judgment of everyone who didn't feel those same convictions.)

So now I'm having a conversation with my daughter regarding the tv show I talked about yesterday. She wanted to call her friend who IS allowed to see it and tell her that she shouldn't. I know part of the motivation is that my child likes being "in the know" and it will bother her that her friend will know what's going on with that show and she won't. At this point, suffice it to say that my daughter does NOT have the personal conviction that the show isn't one she should watch. She's 12, so personal convictions aren't really a formed thing yet.

All I can tell her is this: true, noble, pure, right, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy ... think about such things. And, if what you want to read/watch/listen to does not bring you to think about such things, then maybe it's something inappropriate.

(to be continued tomorrow)

2 comments:

Dorie said...

So true! I love that you posted about this. For me, I long that my children would learn this valuable lesson earlier rather than later as well. I hope that they learn to love others as He loves us, to not sit in judgement of others, to not hold ourselves as the example for others to follow, but to cling to the Lord and allow Him to lead us all in His way. Thank you for posting about this!

Anonymous said...

I needed this post today. I feel like I need to provide some much needed change in my family, but starting with myself. Personal conviction is such a difficult area. I often struggle with, am I really not convicted? Or, am I just being disobedient? I look forward to your post tomorrow.