The choices we make

In church today, someone was giving the talk before communion and said "Do you believe that Jesus is your Lord and Savior?"  and he continued to say if not, maybe you shouldn't take the cup and drink or eat the bread.  He continued on, to add, "Do people around you think of you as a peacemaker? Do people around you respect you most?"  And while I think its important to in all circumstances as much as possible bring a peaceful energy, I don't think that having a relationship with Jesus will necessarily always mean that people will respect you.  Jesus was, after all, a rebel.  He called out the Pharisees and the scribes and was shunned by rulers.  Some people respected him and some people called him a fraud.  While I don't believe we are all in the same situation, we are followers of Jesus and this calls us to follow him even when others don't respect our choices.  (And sometimes we are in such a difficult place in our lives that the respect of others isn't what we need or are looking for, but instead, we are looking for the love and lack of judgement that only Jesus can bring.)  So, when I got divorced and left a more "stable" sort of life, people probably didn't respect me or agree with me, but I felt in order to have a relationship with God, that was what I needed to do.   And I let this cashier trigger me and it reminded me of the choice that I had made, and sometimes, according to the world, it didn't and doesn't look like the respectable choice, but it was made in trusting God and the best choice for me.   

"The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  John 3:8

Have you ever had to make a choice that the world or people in your life wouldn't respect but that you felt was what God was calling you to do?

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