Enslaved to My Own Opinion

I’m opinionated. 

I’m a woman and I believe God built opinions into our design. I think it’s because, we’re the researchers. We devour books and research ideas on structuring the home, ways to organize our lives to make days run smoother…Hello Pintrest! The whole concept of Pintrest is alluring mostly to whom? Women! We are the family investigators. We run our investigations and we’ve found the best ways to operate our lives. This character attribute has caused us to develop a lot of opinions.

Opinions God’s way, to protect ourselves and our family, etc. are healthy and good; however if they are not kept under submission to God they lead us into bondage. 

Have you ever considered that part of our insecurity –we may be placing on ourselves due to our own opinions of others. We fear that others may have opinions of us through the same negative lens we view them?

Having negative opinions of others leads to bondage.

Some Sources of Negative Opinions:
·         She’s put on a little weight…
·         She’s lost a lot of weight…
·         She’s a stay at home mom?
·         She works full-time and leaves her children where?!?!
·          “That mom is strictly breast feeding for how many years???”   
·         “That mom is strictly bottle feeding?”
·         “Why on earth are they homeschooling”  
·         “Don’t they know the problems with our public school system?”
·         “Oh, her? Yeah, well she’s always upset about something.”

Having a negative view of others points the finger at a negative view or even hatred of ourselves.

You cannot have a harsher opinion of anyone than they have of themself.  We weigh someone’s thoughts, intentions or motives by what we see, when we have no idea what surrounding circumstances may have led to what we’re judging.

As women, we can be so quick to develop opinions without compassion; which also makes us quick to develop harsh opinions of ourselves. 

We idolize the “Pintrest” mom’s who do Art’s, Crafts, Games and Bake with their children all day yet their house is immaculate. How on earth do I choose to clean all day and yet my house is a wreck?

These images are ideas, a mirage.  There is NO way, even with a house keeper, that some of these images are real.

Give yourself a break! God did not design you to live up to your invisible, never satisfied standards. God did not design you to fall under the weight of the opinions of others. We were designed to submit to His yoke. His yoke is easy, HIS burden is light.

Happy Kids and treasuring your blessings TODAY trump a spotless house. Your kids will not remember all those nights you successfully cleaned the whole house, prepared a 4 course meal and got them into bed by eight, trying to meet the standards you have set for Yourself. They will remember laughing with you while learning to write their name in finger paint or shaving cream (that adds to your never ending mess, but that’s ok. Mess is part of the job).

So I challenge you – and myself- to take an opinion break! Ask the Lord to renew your mind every time you catch a negative view of yourself or of someone else rolling across your mind.

Lord, forgive me for trying to live up to the high standards of the opinions I place on myself or for expecting others to live up to the standards I have placed on them.  I pray that my opinions will submit to Your authority and that they will be used for Your glory!
Your Clay,
Melissa

About Melissa

Melissa Bradley is married with two small children.  She serves at a church plant in Hendersonville, NC. The passion of her heart is to live every day missionally. You can also find Melissa at Beautiful Mommy Feet, she and her husbands personal ministry page, a women’s ministry page -Radiance and on Facebook.

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