“Don’t worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for his answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.” Philipians 4:4-9.
God has put it on my heart to tell you that He doesn’t want you to be hurt, angry, confused, sad, anxious, depressed, or any other negative emotion that you might be feeling. He wants you to be at peace, which may be a difficult concept to understand when we look around and see all the hurting and suffering going on in the world and in our personal lives. But, God gave us the tools we need to overcome this negativity and can make everything okay if we allow Him to, rather than letting the world, determine our outcome.
Please do not fall for this world’s view of what happiness is. The world would tell us that money and material things make us happy, and that if it feels good, we should do it, with no regard to how others feel or how our actions affect them, and without regard to the damage it does to our own souls when we always think of ourselves first.
But if we really look within ourselves we know these are horrible concepts to live by. To say that material wealth makes us happy, we devalue our children, our friends, and our families. We are saying that our passions and hobbies and the things and people we love have less meaning than a piece of green paper with a number on it. No, money is not the root of all evil. But “…for the love of money is the root of all evil…” – 1 Timothy 6:10.
Older generations were told to be responsible for their actions. Now, everything is the other guy’s fault. I’m depressed and it’s your fault because you don’t agree with everything I want to do. I had careless sex and wound up pregnant and got an abortion because YOU wouldn’t take care of my baby. I broke into your house while you were gone to steal all your stuff, but I tripped down the stairs and broke my leg – and now I get to sue you!
We are commanded and demanded by the world to be “who we are,” but without regard to any of the things that actually make us who we are. Gay and transgender people are told that being gay or transgender is “who they are,” as if a gay person’s character is based solely on who they love rather than HOW they love; as if a transgender person’s character is comprised of whether they think they feel like a man or a woman and which gender restroom they prefer to use, rather than the things that actually make up one’s character (or the lack thereof) – things like passions, talent, compassion, integrity, the ability to empathize and sympathize, sense of humor, etc. If one was to Google lists of character traits, nowhere on any list (most are quite extensive, I might add) will you find “gay” or “transgender” listed as traits that comprise a person’s character. When a skinny girl thinks they’re fat, we recognize this as body image dysmorphia. We don’t call her fat because she’s not fat. We don’t encourage her to become bulimic, and if she does, we try to get her the help she needs. But when a man thinks he’s a woman and wants to remove the parts of his body that remind him he is a man, we cheer and applaud, give him “Woman of the Year” awards, Sports Illustrated features him on their cover, and he is handed a trophy for the brave and courageous and totally unexpected defeat of an actual woman in a physically demanding sport that is separated by gender for a reason.
One day not so long ago, we knew that a baby started developing inside the womb immediately upon conception – otherwise, it would die if it didn’t start developing. That’s science and common sense. Now, we’re told that a baby doesn’t start developing until “X” amount of weeks in the womb, and the “X” is constantly changing!
The world has convinced us of scientific and logical impossibilities, while at the same time telling us to use logic and prove everything, only to not accept logical, scientific proof if it goes against what they are saying.
A bird’s egg is protected under threat of a $50,000 fine because it’s almost extinct, yet a human life, in the womb, is encouraged to be snuffed out for the sake of convenience. And a human life (not the human race, but an individual human life) is the closest to extinct you can get, simply because each life is so different. Each human has their own set of skills and passions and desires and purpose in this world. Unlike birds…they all have the same mechanical purpose, the same mechanical desires, and the same set of skills for their entire species. If we are protecting these birds in danger of being extinct, then shouldn’t we also be protecting humans with at least as much fervor?
No wonder we’re confused.
But the next time you’re confused, do yourself a favor and read the verse I quoted above, and remember that in a world full of minute-by-minute changes that can be extremely confusing, God’s word never changes. What he said then, he says today, and he will continue to say tomorrow and for the rest of eternity. Remember that when we follow Christ, it never leads to confusion. Only peace.
The Armentrout Shout-out 