Friday, September 13th

Has someone ever called you naïve, and it really, really bothered you?  Or, maybe they used a term of endearment such as "Little Miss Goody Two Shoes".  Words can really hurt, girls.  The old adage,

Sticks and stones may break my bones

But words will never hurt me!
 

is NOT true.  In fact, I think sometimes that someone's words can hurt worse than a slap in the face.  That is why we should always be careful to guard our mouths because once the cutting words are out, they're out and there's no turning back.  But, today's devotion isn't about our words.  It's about being called innocent or childlike or unworldly.  All 3 of those words are synonymous with the definition of naïve, and which of those words do we really NOT want to be?  I want to be all of them--innocent, childlike, and unworldly.  I desire to be innocent about worldly topics; it doesn't bother me at all for someone to laugh at me when I don't understand a street term they've just used.  Why?  Because in order to know the street talk, the gutter language, I have to be running the street.  The Scriptures themselves tell us to be childlike,

Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.  I Corinthians 14:20

 

I desire to be child-like.  Children believe with great faith, and the Lord uses the example of their faith to direct us.  And, I definitely want to be called unworldly. 

 

I also believe there's a difference between being ignorant and being separated.  I don't want my girls to be ignorant---kept in a box or a bubble not able to function in a real world.  I want you all to understand and YET choose to keep yourselves from the world's way of talking, thinking, dressing, and acting.  So, the next time someone says, "You're so naïve," smile and say, 'Why, thank you, that's so nice of you to say.'  Don't take it as a snide remark; take it as a compliment.

 

Scripture Reading for the Day:

 

Proverbs 13

John 14