A recent stressful situation got me thinking about a person’s true nature. We are all born depraved and sinful, with the inability to seek God or do any good. It’s only by God’s saving grace and ongoing sanctification in our lives that we become anything other than progressively more depraved and more sinful. But, how do we know the state of progress in our own hearts? This was the question I recently found myself asking.
If you want to know what you’re made of, your true character, your heart’s condition, look at how you respond when you’re stressed, tired, overworked, at your whit’s end. It is in these times that our true colors show. How do you react to difficult situations in these times? Do you fly off the handle and say mean hurtful things? Do you lash out at other people? Or, are you thoughtful and concerned, speaking with compassion and care? How you answer that reflects the state of your sanctification. James 1:19 says “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” How well do you do that? We are all at different points in our walk towards holiness. None of us will ever achieve the goal of complete sinlessness in this life, but that shouldn’t stop us from continually striving for more. Regardless of your current state, how can you improve? How can you act, speak and be more like Christ to those around you, even in difficult, stressful times? Also, how are we to respond to those who do respond in a sinful manner? Here are a few practical steps:
First, pray for those that do lash out hurtfully, forgiving them and holding no grudge against them for it. Also pray that God would do a work in their hearts, that they might be continually sanctified.
Second, if we act out inappropriately, seek God on the matter. Try to learn why we said or did what we did. Ask for forgiveness from God and from those that we’ve wronged. The next time, pause and think more before you speak or act.
Third, spend time in God’s Word. Constant exposure to it will change us. Absence from it will allow us to drift further and further into sin and depravity. We need to saturate our lives with the Truth of God’s Word, allowing it to transform us from the inside out. Only then will the overflow of our hearts be pleasing to God.
“Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” – Luke 6:45 (NIV84)
What are your thoughts on this?