Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:2
The life of a true believer and follower of the son of God is not glorious and special and easy and everyone loves you and what you say. The problem is when you know the truth which sets you and the other person free, and you see where you at one time were wrong in how you lived, and you see others doing the same wrong things. And you know the path they are on is leading to problems, sometimes big problems sometimes small problems. But because they are things which go against the truth in Yahweh. And you know the only way of true peace is in Yahweh. You must speak up and try to convince, rebuke, exhort.
I keep going back to the same thing in my mind, the conversation I had with my sister and wife about my oldest daughter, and of course as always the Lord showing me other things which always support his truth and shows me how the truth always goes against the ways of men. So men of the flesh do not like it. The truth does convict, shows you how wrong you are. And because the devil is crafty and has you believing we are good people by nature (when we are not in the eyes of the King of Kings). Then the truth of God comes to you which goes against your truth and shows you that you are not so good after all. We ignore it or worse call the light of the Holy Spirit, evil.
The Lord showed me or reminded me of the way satan works. He is slow and deliberate in how he reals you in. He does not and cannot just jump on you the first time you sin, he keeps pulling you deeper and deeper into the sin you allow in your life until it snatches you. And you think you are good and OK because after all I did not kill anyone or defraud anyone for millions of dollars.
Back to my older daughter, and her lies and deception she creates with drama which keeps her in sin and dysfunction and ruins relationships. Love does not deceive and lie to keep people in a relationship with you. The only person who would ever remain in a relationship with a person who manipulates is someone who is weak and attaches themselves to anyone who pays a little attention to them. This relationship is worse than no relationships at all.
Now at first a manipulator may seem good, and they are on their best behavior so initially the relationship can be very good and strong. But over time it gets destroyed because the true personality comes out. satan is the same, he makes himself to look good, but slowly he destroys you little by little so you do not even see it coming or happening.
I watch this happen to people over and over in all ways. Keeping in mind there are two things to protect which both come from one thing. Which is we need to protect what we let into our mind, or doctrine. Doctrine comes from all kinds of sources, it is first of all religious, but it is also political, societal, family friends… Everything that comes to us that helps to form our mind of how we are supposed to live. It also includes the doctrine of God because all of us hear or feel him some, it is just to what level? A person who reads the bible daily or often instead of the man who only listens to other men teachers, especially if it is the catholic church system. The bible reader will know and understand more about the truth and light of God especially if he seeks the Lords truth. Than the person who only listens to their church leaders tell them what God wants.
Being a past catholic for 40 some years, I know how they work perfectly. And what their doctrine is so far removed from the doctrine from God it is actually amazing anyone follows it? But then they do a good job of keeping the people from reading the real bible so they can push their doctrine.
So to bring all this together, which of us is showing more love to my daughter? The one who stays silent about her lies and deception which are destroying her life little by little, one after another? That is a path to hell if she remains on that path? “Or the one who Preach the word! To convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” God says clearly we are to do as Paul writes. Because I know what happens to the man who is lied to and manipulated over and over. Eventually he says enough and moves on. I know it because I lived it.
The only thing which is the same with us is we all want what is best for my daughter. They seem to think because of the doctrine they follow that staying silent and allowing the bad destructive behavior is the best way to help, letting them go deeper and deeper into sin and death. I know it is not, and the bible is full of stories and point blank verses to support it. And there is nothing which supports allowing a person to remain in sin and support them in it.
As another example, with my dad. My sister when watching over him gave him all kinds of sugars in his diet. I took all of them away, so I seem like a mean son. But he was getting really fat, had diabetes and was in and out of the hospital. Plus other health issues. Now he is of good weight, perfect weight, much stronger, a lot less meds (I would love to get him off all of them but the pain meds are not doable).
I know in my sister’s mind she is helping him to have a good last few years of life, giving him what he likes, sugar. But in my mind and the doctrine of God, I am giving him a much better life, one which requires sacrifice of things you like over things which are good for you. But losing weight, getting stronger and healthier, staying out of the hospital is of God and better for you.
The point is this applies to everyone, you let your kids eat trash because they like pop, cake, ice cream, chips, hotdogs… Then your kids get fat and unhealthy, it is obvious as we see it everywhere. And then they end up with cancer or diabetes and we wonder or think poor me and my kid.
Along the same lines, when my sister was here with us, she was speaking of all these health problems she and her husband were having, keep in mind she is 2 years younger than me. She told me of all these test she has had in the past year or two, of which I was amazed. Her husband (a few years older than me) has diabetes sand prostate cancer. He drinks diet mountain dew all day long as did my sister. I don’t. I have not touched a pop in around 20 years. Although I also use to drink them all day long instead of water. And it was causing me health problems so I stopped and changed many things in my diet and it reversed my sliding health problems within a month.
So here is the other thing the world tells you to sum up the above. The world does not tell us (I am speaking of doctors, both physical and mental health) to make changes to return to good health. It gives us drugs instead. Drugs for depression, for being by polar, for any and all mental problems, when the real fix is spending time alone with God so he can show you what you are doing wrong to make it right. The real fix.
The world gives drugs to compensate for diabetes, heart issues, weight issues, cancer… When the truth will reverse all these also
You reap what you sow, so why do you keep sowing to the world which is under the power of satan and designed to keep you in pain and suffering and then eventually you die in the sin and it gets much worse? Why are people so blind to see this? To simply sow righteousness as shown to us by God and then reap righteousness (although many days the long suffering part is a big thing as it is difficult to keep speaking truth and hearing the people around you defend the sinful lives of others instead of truth because it sounds too hard and convicting). The point my wife and sister made is valid, my relationship with my daughter would have a better chance if I told her what her itching ears wants to hear instead of truth. I know it all too well, it cost me relationships. This is where the long suffering comes in because I know the people do not like to hear truth. They prefer to pretend all is good in the way they live life, when the results or fruit they are bearing is showing bad signs everywhere. And most see the fruit of those following God as bad. The world pushes relationships with your family above teaching righteousness and having them hate you because of it. But the righteous in Yeshua know the results of following him and willing to live in them to follow and obey the truth and disciple the nations to Yeshua.
To follow Yeshua means to die unto everything you think is important in this life and cling to him instead. Knowing men will hate you because of him and thin you are evil in your ways. This is one of the main reasons men cannot come to know Yeshua, they have the doctrine in their mind it is the opposite, that Yeshua is telling everyone what they want to hear to bring them into the Kingdom. This is the biggest deception of satan. Masking what is good in the sight of God, bad. And making what is bad in the eyes of God seem good. And trying to convince others of this is difficult, they do not want to hear and understand and come to righteousness. But without righteousness they will never live a good life, they will always have self-made problems, and they will never know God and find his peace and enter into his Kingdom. Never!