What a hindrance!



There are many precious promises for the child of God. One of them is liberty. God's word tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17b that "...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."



Christians are free!



Every believer has total access to this freedom, since every born-again believer has the Spirit of the Lord. However, there are things that can inhibit our ability of partaking of it; things that can become a hindrance. In Hebrews, chapter 12, we are encouraged to "...lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset (ensnares) [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."



Sin, of course, is a definite hindrance. But what I wanted to share in this entry is something more specific (still in the line of sin), and it's in relation to our faulty perception of others.



Five things came to mind:



1 - Fear of others * God's word tells us that the fear of man is a snare. Our fear should truly be of God alone.



2 - Being a respecter of persons * In other words, having favorites; showing favor to one above another. How can we be respecters of persons, when God Himself is not?



3 - Being a man-pleaser * Whatever we do as Christians, it is not to be eye service for others, to please others. Whatever we do should be done as unto our God, to please Him.



4 - Looking at ourselves as above others * What this really is is pride, puffing ourselves up. This is completely opposite of what our Lord did when He came to the earth. Jesus humbled Himself, and we dare to exalt ourselves?



5 - Simply thinking evil in your heart toward others, due to either prejudice, bias, or based upon secondhand, unconfirmed information (i.e. gossip, slander). Our Lord commanded us to love one another... even our enemies.

Members of Christ's body, I just want to encourage you to not let any of these things become a hindrance in your lives. Please pray for this Clay Soldier the same.


Stand in liberty,

One Clay Soldier among many