I'm not here to come off contentious, but if I'm being honest, sometimes you have to ask yourself.
When life hits the fan, are you still a fan?
God isn't a microwave; you won't get results fast. Evildoers will be dealt with in time, even though it looks as if they are winning; their eyes are really just behind a veil blocking them from seeing the path they are truly walking.
Sometimes we allow our feelings to get the better of us, and we take it into our own hands. Though we waited for God to work it out, it would have been cleaner and safer than what we could do. Yet, he'll let it play and put a lesson in there somewhere to show you if only you waited, I would shield you from heartache and pain. But we always think we're in the right and we can solve it better than God.
Did you take the best path? Did you benefit at all from what you did? Did you really need a microwave answer, or did your situation require time and delicate handling?
So when people look at what you have done, do you think they will see you the same? Will they start to look at you with disdain? Do you think they will see you as the same person again? Will they only see you as your sin, or will they look at you as who you are? Will they judge and degrade you for what you did, question your character every second of the way?
How would you answer their questions? Will you spin a web of lies that will only dig you a deeper grave? Or will you express everything that was holding you back? Or are you simply a coward hiding behind the facade of an ever-giving flower?
When you look at it, the blame falls on the person who did it, but what caused such an act? What caused them to do such a thing, knowing the risks? Why would they take such a dangerous chance? What made them think it was a good idea? What thoughts were they being fed? What did the people around them do?
I have heard that to know your enemy is to know yourself, and honestly, truly. Once you know your enemy, then you know what you should do to lead to victory over them. You know their strengths and weaknesses, yet you don't fail to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses. Figuring out what strategies work and which don't. In a way your given a guide to follow that will benefit you in the long run.
Though don't get too deep believing you know everything about your enemy, because they may have a secret weapon that you have no info about. Or maybe they know something about you that no one would ever find out. Which is exactly how the devil works; he knows things about you that you try so hard to hide. And he preys upon that until it starts creeping out, and you begin reacting in ways you never have. Or doing things you never would have done. The one thing he loves to play with is emotions; he'll play on fear, anger, pride, and emotions that can be turned negative or against God. He is there to incite havoc in your life.
So when life hits the fan, are you still a fan?
Where do you stand when chaos is all around you? Do you remain a child of God, or do you veer away? Maybe veering away isn't that bad. Sometimes veering away can lead us to grow and evolve beyond what we are right now. Sometimes you need a sudden change of pace. Yet, is it truly good? Are you actually ready for that change, or are you moving too fast? Are you moving preemptively, or are you moving right on time? What is God's plan?
After everything, how do you respond? Do you show forgiveness? Or do you want to take revenge whenever they offend you? Do you allow your feelings to take control?
We must remember that even the very elect will fall. So, we should know that, of course, we'll fall and fail, but what really matters is whether we get back up and keep moving or dwell on what we did.
If I'm being honest, it always seemed funny that you could ask the Lord to forgive you, and your sin was tossed away, but that's what happens when you look at it from a human perspective. We have to remember to separate flesh and spirit. They are two separate parts of one whole; they play roles in our daily lives, but we are to cast down our flesh.
Why did you allow yourself to do such an act, knowing what could happen to you? Were you not convicted at all? Did God truly want you to commit such an act? Did he give you warnings or time to fix it? Are your eyes open or are they veiled, unable to see beyond what you want? Where does your heart stand? Do you love or do you hate? Do you stand with the Lord, or are you on your own on the fence, acting upon your own accord while learning of God? Many times, we find ourselves studying the Son of God yet failing to understand our own flaws. We're just looking for loopholes in our troubled souls, but there isn't any freedom there.
Won't you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends. When life hits, are you still a fan?
Nelson Mandela was a man who stood for courage, forgiveness, and transformative vision in the face of systemic injustice. He strived for change and healing during a time that saw distrust and chaos all around. Even after about 27 years in prison, he left without bitterness or vengeance. That time in prison strengthened him; he was not a broken man but rather a symbol of dignity, patience, and moral strength.
So I ask you once again, when life hits the fan, are you still a fan?
One question we must ask ourselves is how we see people. Do we only see their sin, or do we see what they can become? Can you forgive past wrongs in the service of a better future? Or will you continue to belittle and degrade them every second you can?
Will you have the Heart of Mandela, or will you turn away?
How will you react to the people you hurt? Will you correct your mistakes, or will you continue? Have you come to peace with what could happen to you, or are you still afraid of the consequences?
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Hello!
There are several ideas packed into this sentence: justice will come, evildoers only appear to be winning and they cannot see the consequences of their choices. I’d probably divide it into two sentences so each point has more significance.
Calling people "evildoers" also makes the division between good and bad people feel very absolute, wherein later you argue that people shouldn’t be reduced to their sins. Those ideas can exist together, but you may want to use language that separates the person from the harmful act more consistently.
This sentence is hard to follow because it moves from talking about God in the third person as "he" to what appears to be God speaking in the first person as "I". If the final part is meant to represent God’s message, I’d put it in quotation marks or introduce it more clearly.
I’d also be careful with the promise that waiting for God will shield someone from heartache and pain. Patience may prevent certain self-inflicted consequences, but faithful people can still experience suffering. I think your point is that waiting could spare us from the additional pain caused by impulsive choices, and saying that specifically would make the idea feel more balanced.
There’s some repetition here. Asking whether people will "see you the same" appears twice, and the final question already communicates the central concern more strongly.
It may also be worth acknowledging that people can recognise someone’s full humanity while still changing how much they trust them? Forgiveness, judgment and restored trust are related, but they aren’t necessarily the same thing!
I’m confused by the suggestion that veering away from being a child of God "isn’t that bad," though. The following sentences say that moving away can lead to growth and evolution, but the rest of the writing warns against acting outside God’s plan. That creates a major contradiction. Perhaps you mean veering away from your familiar routine, church environment or current understanding rather than veering away from God.
Mandela's appearance is very sudden. You spend most of its time discussing God, sin, the devil and spiritual judgment, and then shifts into a short historical example without preparing people for it. You could introduce him by explaining that spiritual patience can be reflected in human examples of endurance and reconciliation or something like that.
These are good closing questions because they return responsibility to the person who caused harm. "Will you correct your mistakes, or will you continue?" could be more specific, though. I assume you mean continuing the harmful behaviour, continuing to lie or refusing to make amends? I think that's rather vague.
***
This has a lot of potential! At the moment, though, your writing is trying to explore several different subjects at once. It discusses waiting for God, taking revenge, accepting responsibility, understanding the causes of wrongdoing, resisting the devil, forgiving offenders, separating flesh and spirit, Nelson Mandela and the way communities judge people after they sin. These ideas connect, but the path between them isn’t always clear. I often found myself unsure why you used certain metaphors, like with continuing the microwave one.
I’d decide whose journey is at the centre as well. Is this primarily addressed to someone who committed a harmful act and now fears judgment? Is it speaking to the people deciding whether to forgive that person? I can't get a feel on who the "you" is.
Okay, I'm yapping, but I hope this makes sense! Cheers!
Lipton
Good afternoon!
Ahh and I feel like I might be the opposite of the target audience for this^^°
But hey, if it stays in the Green Room for this long, I will look at it anyway.
I find it always a bit pretentious when ppl claim that god is being deliberate etc or looking to god for answers in their own life. It takes agency away from you, agency over your own failures but also your own successes.
I know these are just your thoughts, as you claim in your folder… but I have trouble figuring out what you were even thinking about. What is the central question that prompted this? Is this religious questioning? Is this about how other people perceive you? Is this about what to do when life is miserable? I don’t know.
Maybe it would have helped if instead of writing “How would you answer their questions?” you could have actually asked their questions? Because I am so lost on what they would ask. I don’t know what part of you they are questioning.
I have a really hard time following your thoughts. There is no real structure to guide me along and so I am left slightly angry and frustrated but mostly confused o_o
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