Live and Let LiveSample

4. Living in the Light (Part 2)

Attitudes to Avoid

If our attitude determines our altitude, we might want to avoid certain attitudes.

Vows, Vengeance and Villains are the things that trap our light-bearing attitudes. It limits our lives and steals our joy. Living in the light also requires us to let others live in the hope of being lit-up themselves. How do these three traps limit us and others?

• Vows

Vows are made in doubt of one’s own word. But we should simply be men of our word.

Jesus was not referring to marriage vows here, which are made as a covenant between man and wife. A covenant much like God has made with us through Christ. Our hearts and lives cannot bear too many covenants, though. As such,, we should not be burdened with more covenants than those we have with our spouses and with Jesus.

Jesus called us to bear His burden of light, not to overburden ourselves with more than we can handle. Truth is another characteristic Christ called us to bear, and therefore we should simply speak the truth, live the truth and stay in the truth. Be a man of your word and stop making empty promises. It’s as plain and simple as that. A man you can take at his word, is a man you can take seriously. Just like Jesus.

A man of the Word should truly be a man of his word!

• Vengeance

Vengeance makes the heart dark and heavy. But we are called to bring light.

It’s one thing to fight and thirst for justice and pursue righteousness as we mentioned previously. But vengeance becomes a thorn in our flesh, specifically leaving stitches in our hearts and dark clouds over our minds. In fact, vengeance will cloud our good judgment while impairing our ability to find true justice and live righteously.

Let go of wrath. It is a burden taken up by God to lighten the burden of man.

• Villains

Making someone the villain of your story puts them beyond redemption from your perspective. But the Gospel teaches us how to live and let live instead.

Many of us have that one guy we dislike. Maybe he is a rival at work, a friend of a friend you cannot get along with, or the know-it-all parent at your child’s school. Maybe it is the autocratic boss, the incompetent mayor or the shady businessman. However, while not everyone can be trusted, no one is beyond redemption.

We don’t have to be friends, but we can be friendly towards those harder-to-like characters. Maybe when we pray for them, God will change them. Maybe when we show them the light, the darkness will fade.

Let’s avoid the attitudes that trip us up. Then truth, light and love will liberate us to live and let live.

Let’s Live and Let Live:

• What does it mean to you to truly be a man of your word?
• How do vengeance, bitterness, and grudges cloud our judgment and impair our ability to live righteously?
• Who is there that you need to forgive, stop villainizing and start praying for?