One kind of rebellion against God is to simply choose to stop growing in relationship to Him. We are speaking about a genuine Christian. Such a person may feel that if they become more and more like Christ, their own personality may become erased. They may feel that they will become deprived of those things they enjoy most about life. And, they are not willing to trade what they know pleases them for a growing relationship with Christ because they do not know how to value what that might mean.
Once a person does become a Christan, life becomes a walk on the straight and narrow way Christ described. If we choose to follow our own motivations rather than those of the Holy Spirit, we find ourselves wandering off of the straight way. This brings sorrow. No matter what the pleasure we might have gained from our own way, we suffer loss in our peace with God, our confidence in prayer, and loss of the overwhelming fulfillment of being in the will of God.
If we choose to allow the Holy Spirit to be our Friend, we choose to find wisdom, compassion, faith and faithfulness in the Word of God, if we bring our thoughts and motivations captive to Christ and walk in an attitude of prayer, then we find the glory of God revealed in our practical everyday life.
When our relationships with others might be enmeshed in conflict, we find His love to be the power to help us to step back from the conflict. If we ask Him to heal our heart, we can then use the love we feel from Him to express His love to the other person when we have little of our own love to use. When we find it impossible to forgive others, we can ask God to not hold anything against the other person for our sake and then it becomes easier to ask God to help us to forgive them on our own. If the other person responds with an unselfish attitude towards us, that may mean that our relationship to the other person could be restored. Or, we may find His love to be the power to let us know that this relationship is not healthy and that we should find other relationships. Either way, we find the blessing of peace of mind and heart as a benefit and a release from crushing sorrow.
When we are confused about what we should achieve, it is often because our personal motivations do not match the realities of life that confront us. What should we do? We need wisdom. Feelings, gut reactions, and knowledge of only part of the facts we need to consider all have about the same chance as a roll of the dice to let us know what we should do.
However, when we check out our motivations against the Word of God and get a positive reaction that our motives are good, then we take the next step. We check out the facts and do our best to anticipate all of the obsticles in our way and the most like outcomes of our proposed actions. We check to see if we have the resources to finish our project or goal. If this seems OK, then we finish with a gut check to see if there is something hidden in our minds or hearts that we have not yet considered. We check with others who may give us insight. Is our plan wise, is it compassionate to others who would be affected, is it faithful to God?
With sound judgement and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we take courage and proceed. As we go forward in the guidance of the Holy Spirit by the wisdom of God's Word, we find peace beyond the circumstances. We find His character revealed in us. We find the fruits of the Spirit becoming the very best part of our personality and character. Once again, we find benefit added and sorrow relieved.
These are neither instant realities nor unreasonable dreams. They are the results of the process of walking with God day by day, year by year. These results are just as true as the Word of God is truthful and the Holy Spirit is faithful. You can trust your way to Him much more than you can to yourself.
The Christian who chooses to grow in Christ will find that life is not about the Christian but about the Holy Spirit within the Christian. That is the glory of God revealed in our everyday life. It is the blessing to us, to our families, and to all who touch our lives.
Far from being erased, the Christian is fulfilled in the glory of God. His or her personality and character find that the Holy Spirit has formed them into being a person they never could have become on their own. They have become a person whom they themselves would be able to respect and honor if it were someone else.
