Grace By Which We Stand

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Human nature is such that it takes about 1 second for a person’s family and friends to turn from being supportive to one being ostracized. This is a trait of fallible human nature. Even if a person is not entirely ostracized, there are varying degrees along a sliding scale spectrum of this phenomenon.

The seeds of this are entirely understandable. They are easily and readily forgivable. Fallible human nature wavers between opinions. This is normal and happens at every level. Every person grapples with distinguishing truth from error, right from wrong, and thus opinion from opinion. People do this about everything. When a person or persons become the subject of scrutiny, this fallible nature is turned on that individual. Most people crumble under the increasing weights of public opinion. Some people crumble under the weights of their own conflicted opinions, let alone the varied opinions of a small nucleus of family and friends. Then, increasingly more people are of such fortitude that they would begin crumbling under the multitudinous opinions and scrutiny of a larger and larger number and breadth of public scrutiny.

And so it is for any individual, especially one who has no interest but pleasing God and doing His will rather than the will of any man.

The one who sets his course to do only what The Father says will encounter all manner of conflicting opinions, views and thoughts concerning him, his words, his actions, his associations, his methods, his temperament, ad infinitum. Most choose varying degrees of equilibrium in order to balance the degree of scrutiny and opposition with their individual personal ability to stand up under the varying degrees of scrutiny and pressure.

The man who fears God, however, does not aim to please himself, nor does he rest in his own strength.

For this cause, such a man will feel the full weight of all opposition from friends and family because he has emptied himself of his own interests. At the same time, by the power of Christ in him such a man will care little or nothing at all for the tremendously fickle and weak opinions of man. This is because the otherwise empty shell of such a man’s own personal life in regard to the opinions of man, having been filled and brought to life with and by the true life and love and power of Christ in him, will be able to withstand all manner of opposition from fickle man.

Each person aiming to stand will also naturally consider themselves in the description of this person standing up under pressures. Indeed, there is only one Who stood up under the greatest pressures. However, each one alone knows his own joys and sorrows. For this reason, each one aiming to stand true most easily sees himself as the one standing firm under great pressure. Only the truly mature more readily recognize others who are weak and in need of strength and support and thus attend to those rather than to caring for oneself as being in need.