Walking in Freedom

"There is a way that seems right to a man...."  

This morning, I am reminded of my utter and complete dependence upon the Spirit of God.  You see, I know the truth about my own heart and that outside of Christ and a living, ongoing connection with the Father through Holy Spirit, I can easily be deceived.  

When I was a Young Life leader years ago, I remember a talk a fellow leader gave in which this story was told.  

"A mother was trying to drive home a lesson to her teenage son who wanted desperately to go see a very questionable movie.  He claimed that everyone was going to see it and that there was only a little bit of questionable material in it, and why did she have to be so strict?  His mom decided to make her son and his friends some brownies, and in the process, drive home her point.

The son and his friends came into the kitchen when the smell of the freshly baked brownies filled the house.  They waited with eagerness as his mom placed the pan of brownies on the table and began to cut pieces for each of them.  

"Before you dig in, I want to let you know that I decided to add an extra ingredient to this batch.  I added just a little bit of dog poop that I picked up in the back yard this morning.  Oh, don't worry, it's all mixed in, and really, it was just a tiny little bit, and you probably won't even taste it; really, it's no big deal.  Enjoy the brownies boys!" she declared as she served up each plate.  

The boys fell silent and looked at each other and at the freshly cut, wonderful smelling brownies in front of them, and then proceeded to leave the kitchen, not touching the brownies."

Please don't get me wrong...I am not advocating any sort of legalism or nit-picking...rather, when the Spirit of God points out something that is not right, are we willing to listen to that voice over and above the 'popular' voices around us?  Are we willing to take the challenging road, which is sometimes lonely, but is always the road that leads to higher discernment in the Spirit?  Are we willing to hold fast to that which is True? To Him Who is Truth? 

Food for thought...and no pun intended.