After getting to know someone for a certain amount of time, their true colors begin to show. The person you met six months ago isn’t presenting themselves as that person anymore. You start noticing they’re not as kind, humble, or loving as they once were. These things are disappointing, and they hurt, especially when it involves someone we’re dating, but believe it or not, this can also be a blessing. Our Heavenly Father allows us to see things that we may have overlooked in this person, so that we can also see things we’ve also overlooked within ourselves.
2Corinthians 13:5(NKJV) says, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” In this verse, Paul asked the believers in Corinth to perform a checkup of their hearts and minds to analyze if they were authentic Christians. It’s a good idea for us to accept this challenge as well. The examination requires us to hold ourselves up to the example of Christ. We must make an honest assessment of our commitment to put on his nature and give him all of who we are. Many of us say that we’re fully committed, but sometimes our actions, behaviors, and attitudes communicate something different.
As single women who are praying for a marital partner that will walk with us through life, we must know that God desires a good marriage for us way more than we desire it for ourselves. He’s placed the desire for marriage in our hearts, and He is sure to fulfill it, but our faith must be in Him and Him alone, and some of us struggle with this. All of us have plans for where we’re going and what we’re going to do, and these all represent our will, but God requires us to make a shift. You must have faith in His Will, not your own will, for your life. Our actions will always follow what is anchored in our hearts, and if we want to please God, our hearts must be anchored in the pursuit of His Will.
In Isaiah 43:19(NLT), God told His people living in Old Testament times, “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” The knowledge that we serve a God that is always doing something new is very exciting, and it should thrill us to no end! We know from Malachi 3:6 that God doesn’t change, but His brilliance and magnificence is inexhaustible. Through Jesus Christ, He has given us the gift of eternal life through salvation, and it will take us that long to witness and honor all the wonderful aspects of God’s love, power, and splendor. If we lived ten million years, we still would not get to the end of all that He is.
The psalmist said in Psalm 16:11(NLT), “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” God has an overwhelming multitude of ways to show us His love and share His blessings with us, and we must have faith in this truth with all our hearts. We must also know that as believers, it’s our responsibility to make sure we don’t move those blessings out of our way, but instead, remain on the path to them. We can’t let our attitudes and behaviors knock us out of the race and disqualify us, as Paul said in 2Corinthians 13:5. God requires us to be spiritually mature enough to steward relationships, and one of the truths we must grow to understand and accept is that men, as well as everyone else, will respond to both the best and the worst in us. When they reflect an attitude or emotion that’s in our ‘not having it, not taking it’ zone, we need to examine if something within our hearts is a match for this.
If a man isn’t saved, doesn’t love God, and isn’t interested in knowing Jesus Christ, it’s necessary to move Mr. Not for Me, and the nonsense he might bring, out of your way. If he’s saved, sanctified, and Holy Spirit filled, be sure you’re walking with God in every decision you make. Our Heavenly Father continually brings newness into our lives. And sometimes, it isn’t about new people or blessings; it’s the newness of a new and improved attitude of grace and love that He wants to develop in us. Rather than moving the discipline of patience and chastisement out of your way, move out doubt and anything in your heart and mind that isn’t like Christ. Then you’ll please God and position yourself to receive greater rewards.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Move Them out of Your Way”, written by KLizzie, edited by Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.