Pam Padgett ... teacher
Psalm 32:8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
One of my elderly neighbors, Jim, recently came home from a
rehabilitation center after seriously injuring himself in a fall a few
months ago. Since he is a widower and lives by himself, his sister came
to help him for the first few week at home. She is a very outwardly
friendly person, but showed terrible greed when she wanted Jim to pay
her a great deal of money each week to help him. Even after knowing
this, one day I found myself being drawn in by her outward friendliness as though we were good friends. I asked God to help
me be grounded in truth about her.
A few days ago Jim invited me to go out to dinner with him, his sister,
and a friend of his sister at a restaurant that specializes in Mexican
food and margaritas, and I accepted. I prayed asking God to please
protect me during this dinner, or show me if I shouldn't go at all. As I was praying, a thought came, which I believe was from the Holy Spirit, that it wouldn't be wise to drink a margarita during this dinner and that I needed to stay very sober .... keeping my flesh in check, not getting carried away with seeming friendliness and join in with evil talk in order to be part of the group.
The dinner was a few nights ago, and I didn't order a margarita,
although the others did. This, in itself, set me apart from "the group", and kept me from joining in with their clicking their glasses together and saying "Cheers!" Also, a few times during the dinner I starting to
say something, but then a thought that it wasn't wise to say it would
stop me. If I had been doing as they were doing and considering myself one of the group, it would have been
been much easier to be caught up in the talk and not pay attention to these warnings. As far as I know, only one time did I get involved in talk that was not good, and was stopped immediately.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
When we're with those who of the world, evil comes forth and
affects us. When the evil is cloaked in "friendliness", it can be
especially deceptive , as our flesh wants to look friendly as well by joining in.
But God knows what we need to help us in what we are facing. I am very grateful to God for the instruction given to me. At the time I heard to do this, I didn't realize how it would be used to help me by keeping me from being part of "the group", but this was a great help to me.