Back to Basics

It is so hard sometimes to separate my opinions from God's truth. I have been really thinking a lot about this lately. My friend, who is a new believer, will ask me my opinion on some moral issue, or worse, she'll do something that I really wish she hadn't - and she'll ask me the dreaded question, "What do you think I should do?"

So far, through much prayer and discipline, I've felt confident and everything I've said to her. I mostly stick with the fool-proof method of driving the conversation back to Scripture. If I can't back up what I say to her with God's Word, then I don't say it. She is so impressionable and I want her to form her own thoughts. But sometimes I want to say exactly what I'm thinking, which isn't always the most Godly response, I'm sad to say.

This experience has been teaching me so much about going back to basics and filtering out my desires and opinions from what God says is true. Just last week, a situation came up where I had to stop myself from immediately giving a judgmental monologue about something because I knew even in the heat of the moment that that was not the right response. It was hard to bite my tongue, but I'm glad I did it because it only would have served to be hurtful and in no way edifying. After taking a step back from the situation, I could finally respond with love and by driving my counsel back to what the Bible says is true.

I guess that was an important lesson to be reminded of - you can't go wrong if you point back to what God says. His word is unerring and never leads you astray.