It's That Simple...

                "Love must be SINCERE,
                 HATE what is EVIL,
                 CLING to what is GOOD"
                                            Rom. 12:9

   That is what the minister preached about this past Sunday.  While I was growing up that was just a given to me.  I would often wander why we were even taught such things cause I just believed that is the way you are supposed to live. I thought everybody knew that.  Of course, I was raised in a Christian home with a father that is a pentecostal minister.  I have since learned the older you become the harder it is to live by that verse. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss..and what you don't know can't hurt you.
   I also didn't understand how we would ever feel persecuted as a Christian. After all we do live in a free country. Right? It isn't like this is China or a communist society. We have freedom of religion. That is written in our Constitution. Slowly, but surely though we are living in an age where children are being expelled from school for expressing their religious beliefs. And because that freedom applies to all religions sometimes our children are taught of other beliefs we don't necessarily agree with.  It is harder to give your own religion validity when every other religion believes they are the right one. How confusing for a child.
   Consistency is the key to most of our achievements.  It's definitely what you need for discipline and creating order.  I made the mistake of putting a gap in the time I took my children to church and now I am paying the price for it. We as humans are creatures of habit. Unfortunately I made Sunday another Saturday for my kids. Now I have to change that bad habit. I want my children to have the sense of peace that I had growing up, knowing there is a loving God that takes our hand and guides us through life.  We live in such an unstable time we need that reassurance that a higher power can help us make it through.
   My love for them should be so sincere that I want to teach them to hate what is evil and help them to cling to what is good.  By the renewing of my mind and actions I can get us back on the right track again.  Then life will seem more simple in such a complicated world.