"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. " Jeremiah 29-11-14a (NIV)
Duggar Mania is here. Everywhere I look, we see 17 Kids and Counting, see the websites, buy the DVD's, but the book, get their picture, what do they believe? what books do they use? what resources do they use? I want to be like Michelle.......... etc., etc., etc.
I will humbly admit to you too that I am one who tapes all the shows, watches religiously and yes wants to be like Michelle in certain ways myself. But I think it's very easy to get carried away and move further away from God's plan for us instead of closer to his unique special plan for each of us.
So please know, what I am saying here, is I love watching the Duggar family and getting some great ideas from their teachings. I am not trying to condemn them or judge them, but I want to lovingly remind everyone out there that God may not have the same plans for you as he has for Michelle.
In the New Testament, Legalism is addressed in many different ways. And literally speaking, Legalism can mean paying closer attention to rules and laws than to what God has given you and chosen for you through his grace and mercy and His gift through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Legalism can also mean, pushing your own beliefs, rules, laws etc. on other people because you believe you are right, you have declared yourself righteous, better than others.
Sometimes, without intending to, you can push your beliefs onto someone else simply because that person is not where you are at, this may be a weaker brother or sister. These are the ones we need to be so careful with. The ones still learning that all God requires of you is that you accept his free gift of His Son Jesus Christ, love mercy and live humbly with your Lord - NOTHING ELSE!!!!!!!
Galations 5:1-18 (NIV)
Galatians 5
Freedom in Christ 1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? 8That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9"A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." 10I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. 11Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[a]; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Life by the Spirit 16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
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Walk and live by the Spirit, The Holy Spirit of God. Daily rising and seeking only what he has purposed for you. Pray continuously. Search the scriptures. Search your heart!
I've said it many, many times before.
God has a very special purpose and plan for each of our lives. What he has planned for me, he may not have planned for you, and that's O.K.
We are all given specials gifts to work together in our strengthens and weaknesses to build up the body of Christ.
When we go off comparing, envying and coveting what others have or do, we have strayed away from what God has planned for us. Keep your eyes on the Lord. God gives each of us abilities and gifts.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. I Timothy 6:6 (NIV)
If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment. Job 36:11 (NIV)
Live by Faith
Romans 14:22-23 (NIV)
22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
There is only one Michelle Duggar, and God has very special plans just for her and her family.
There is only one Amy Wingfield, and what he has planned for me he may not have planned for you and your family, and that's ok!
I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? Psalms 121:1
Quit looking around, comparing yourselves to each other.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, Colossains 3:23 (NIV)
He loves you and wants only the best for you.
Amy
4 comments:
Excellent thoughts. My own addition to that:
I view the Duggers from a somewhat different viewpoint than my wife. Some of the choices they've made (including family size, home church, and others) make me somewhat uncomfortable or wary.
One example of this that I feel would be safe to share is this thought:
They must be CRAZY to give all of their kids names starting with J. I have 4 kids and 2 of the girls' names start with A. I can not for the life of me look at one of them and get their name right half the time. That's just how my brain works. I have committed that if we have any more children, they will get their own unique initial.
Now that's a rather shallow example (it was meant to be), but my point is that I sometimes judge people based on my own beliefs, experiences, opinions, or whatever.
But when I have those thoughts (and more) about the Duggers ..... or people on tv ..... or people in my church ..... or my neighbors ..... or my friends ..... or my family members ..... or my wife, my heart is reminded:
Rom 14:4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Rom 14:10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
Rom 14:13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this-- not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.
Read the whole chapter to get the full flavor of what Paul is saying here, but I think you see where I'm going. I may not like or agree, or even have problems, with the way people follow God, the choices they make, or the way they live their lives. But if they belong to God and they are following Him, then who am I to have a problem with it.
Who do I think I am?
Am I responsible for setting them straight? No.
Am I responsible for their lives? No.
Who am I responsible for? Me.
I need to be focusing on the log in my own eye and let God deal with his other servants.
I can love my God and follow Him and serve Him and share the joy of what He's doing in my life, but I need to very very careful when thinking about what someone else ought to do or telling them what I think they ought to do.
To quote a previous comment: God is giving me the chance to work on this area and I'll take it!
Excellent job, sweetheart. Keep up the good work.
Your loving husband,
Lance
Fantastic post, Amy. Thank you for having the courage and love to give us all a reminder of guarding ourselves against comparison, covetousness and legalism in any of their forms.
Hi Amy~
Great post! There is another great post on the topic you might enjoy its about being content with your own quiver size. It was written by Raising Arrows. She has GOOD stuff. You can link to her blog through my blog. Go to mine: ourfruitfulharvest.blogspot.com
"The Garden Gate"
Then go to the Quiverfull blog roll and scroll to Raiseing Arrows.
You can also go to Mama Archers blog to get on the QF blog roll and she emails you the code.
Peace Georgiann
If you want to email me to talk about blog stuff or have questions you can just email me at littlepeasinmypodforgod@gmail.com
I do like what you have to say about comparing. I do not like to be compared and God works on each of us indiviually. I can take the good things from the show, like Michelle's sweetness and purity and try to emulate that godly character into my own life. Now as far as wanting to homechurch and wear certian clothes and court and such. I'm not convicted in those areas (yet). I can't say I won't be, but right now, I'm where God has me.
Thank you for the gentle reminder not to compare.
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