I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about an area in my life God has been convicting me in. I am generally a nice person. However, I get stressed out when making customer service calls to get things fixed, most namely one of our utilities. I always know I’ll be on hold forever before I even talk to a person, and then they have to transfer me to about five different people before we can even address the issue, if they don’t hang up on me first.
Anyway, I was talking to my co-worker, explaining that God has been convicting me of my attitude and how I need to be nice to everyone, even those people who I may never meet in person, because I am a reflection of Christ. When I allow my frustration to leak out in unfriendly ways, I’m ruining Christ’s reputation more than my own.
My co-worker, though, pointed out another aspect of God’s conviction. He was definitely pointing out my sin, which is speaking rudely to others. However, anyone who knows God’s nature knows that He does things out of love.
My friend asked me this question next. “What happens to your body when you allow yourself to get all worked up? Your blood pressure rises, your heart rate increases, you get angry…all things which can cause disease instead of bringing about health.
Not only does God want me to grow to become more like Christ, but He wants me to engage in behaviors that bring life to myself, instead of cause death. He doesn’t want me living in a constant state of stress.
How amazing is God that He would love us enough to help us to change our behavior to benefit others…while benefiting ourselves too?
© Cheri Swalwell 2021