The following metaphor makes sense to me, up to a point. “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck,
it’s a duck.” But metaphors like this
are not always accurate 100% of the time—herein lies my thoughts.
Perception is not 100% foolproof as the duck metaphor
implies. The way we perceive ducks walking
and ducks quacking as being ducks is acceptable, but things and distinguishing
the true personalities of people are not always as they seem or how perception
dictates what and who they are.
Identity makeup is different in every person we meet. At a brief glance, it is hard to tell the type
of individual they are inside rather than relying on the whitewash that some people
present on the outside. For this reason,
we should pray for the spiritual gift of discernment of spirits, which is one
of the nine gifts of the Spirit that is available to all Christians, (1
Corinthians 12:1-11).
The world is full of deception, with deceivers working their
angles of enticement, because of selfish greed.
These people leave a bad taste in my mouth. To put it bluntly, in my opinion they come
close to being the dregs of the cup and need the Lord as their personal Savior. I consider them a minimal percentage of
society, whereas honorable individuals are still the majority.
I want to believe in people, but to be honest, I sometimes
fail to remember a scripture in the Bible, (Matthew 18:21,22). Jesus talks about forgiving a person seventy
times seven, not just up to seven times.
I must guard against the old way of thinking that I had
before meeting the Lord. He set me free
from my old nature and is teaching me the beauty of forgiveness since He
forgave me of my sins. I tended to
perceive certain strangers as insidious or suspicious in nature, until I got to
know them.
I believe the discerning of spirits runs close parallel with
perception. It is a thin line of
demarcation. My old negative nature of
perception was based on a few incorrigible personalities I met in past
encounters.
It is sometimes hard for me to take people at face value
until they prove themselves. Honestly,
it takes work on my part to kick certain feelings to the curb like, “Burn me
once, shame on you; burn me twice, shame on me.” The Holy Spirit is helping me to be less
judgmental.
(Matthew 7:1,2), “Judge not, that you be not judged.”
(vs 2) “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the
measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
I don’t know about you, but forgiveness is sometimes hard to
put into practice. I know that omitting
forgiveness from my walk as a Christian is wrong, but as a Believer, I am
striving to overcome the nature of bad attitudes toward ‘takers of society’.
At times, I tend to lump certain people into the same
category. I do this because of self-preservation
to protect myself from being deceived or taken advantage of until they prove
themselves to be trustworthy.
This may sound arrogant or perhaps sounds like I have an
untouchable spirit, but this perception of me is not at all the case. I am analytical and have an investigative personality.
I try to use wisdom as a guidance in helping me discern a
person’s intentions and who they really are.
I am a work in progress and have come a long way with God’s help. I am much better in many areas than when I
first became a Christian.
God is teaching me how to have an understanding type of
demeanor with a long-suffering disposition.
Some people call this ongoing transformation—sanctification.
(2 Corinthians 5:17), “Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things
have become new.”
God blessed me with a wonderful helpmate that is totally my
opposite. Over the years, her kind
spirit and forgiving nature have influenced me greatly.
Like I said earlier, things and people aren’t always as they
seem. Often, I view divisive individuals
that use persuasive maneuvers to push their selfish agendas with ulterior
motives, as wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Probably, such people fall into the category of a minimal
percentile group, 1/10% of 100%, which leaves 99.9% of good people with moral
character. Reality dictates that things
aren’t always as they seem and probably never will be until we meet the Lord,
face to face, in heaven.
Connivers fall in the 1/10%, “birds of a feather” group,
which are achievers by deceptive measures.
In their lonely world of selfish scams and the working of insidious
angles, everything centers around themselves.
It is all about them. Sadly, they
do not give second thoughts when taking advantage of others.
They fail to recognize and consider them before their own personal gain. As my father-in-law would say, “They are takers and deceivers.” And in the next breath, “God loves them and gave His Son, Jesus to die for their sins. They need Jesus to give them something positive to live for.”
Written by,
Papa Boyd
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