Bias 4

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Bias 4

“We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.”- Apostle Paul

I find biases can be snares of “human” understanding.   Sometimes we don’t even realize we have biases until we are tested.   In the past I know I kept biases for personal gain and material gain.  (What I could get out of a relationship?)   In the more recent years my biases were exposed by hurts, betrayals, the sinful and wrong actions and thinking of others and my own pride.

In the testings of life we find where our biases lie.   Biases can be like leaves that cover the ground and it isn’t until they are swept away do we see what lies underneath them.  

Sometimes our biases are exposed by vicious attacks by those we hold to a certain standard.   It is there we see where we have foolishly drawn from and trusted in as securities.   We clearly see the measuring scales and the pedestals in which we put people and things upon and how faulty and hazardous they are to our well-being.

We see how our biases are being manipulated by worldly gains and false securities.

In pointing out these times of “enlightenment” we have an opportunity to become more secure in WHO is truly our source of assurance- GOD.  We let go of the things that temporal and mortal in order to take hold of the eternal and immortal.

 

I know at times GOD isn’t a 100 percent of the time our favorable bias… I know this because our feelings and thoughts get in the way where we can fret, worry, and see what we think is “life” through a dingy burdensome pair of lenses.  I find I carry burdens I was never meant to carry which hinder my daily well-being.

 

These times of testing help not only discover biases that weaken our faith but help us strengthen spiritual surge levees and walls in our faith where we invest more heavily upon God then what we had previously.  

 

These times of strengthening also enable us to speak the truth no matter if the time is favorable or not.

 

  “Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.  For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.  But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.  As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.  And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

 2 Timothy 4:2-6

 

Facing Contradictions with Truth and Love.

Author Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”

Just because we are contradicted doesn’t mean what you and I say isn’t true.

 

ROMANS 12:18 “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

 

Living in peace doesn’t excuse us from living the truth and speaking up for the truth.   Living in peace doesn’t mean accepting the sinful ways of the world.

1 PETER 2:12 “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

  “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers.  How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?  What harmony can there be between Christ and the Devil?   How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?  And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols?  For we are the temple of the living God.  As God said” ‘I will live in them and walk among them.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.  Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.  And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 CORINTHIANS 6: 14-18)

Christians are to love everyone…. and we are to love our neighbor but Christian love is not to be bias or appeasing to any error of sinful thought. 

Love isn’t allowing someone to think they are doing right when they are doing wrong.   There are people who believe if they just “ignore” that person’s erroneous thinking for peace sake then all will eventually be well or they will eventually come around to the truth but is that true?   How can a person ever be saved if they never see their need to be saved?   

I find silence can convey consent just as a voice speaks it.   Has ignoring “sin” ever helped anyone at all?   

Sin is a type mental cancer that if not treated… spreads.  Think of sin a tyrant.  Tyrants have come to power because people choose to be quiet instead of stand up for what was right and by the time people started to think they shouldn’t be silent any longer it was too late.

I believe this is one of reasons why Jesus says:

“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.

‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own household!’

If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.  If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.  If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.  Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me.” MATTHEW 10:34-40

Proverbs 27:5 says “An open rebuke is better than hidden love.”

Ephesians 5:11 “Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead rebuke and expose them.”

“ Throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception.  Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God’s likeness- righteous, holy and true.   So put away all falsehood and ‘tell your neighbor the truth’ because we belong to each other.” Ephesians 4:22-25

Often “religious” people turn away from the truth of the bible because they want to appease the public then bring the public under correction of God’s word.   They favor to social values of the world over what GOD says.  They don’t want to look bad but bad is not a matter of public opinion but GOD.  Keep away from them. Keep your conscious clear by standing the truth in humility and love then you will have the peace of God that will empower you in His grace.

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.  The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” ROMANS 16:17-20