Broken Crutches and Entitlement

When things change, we can be excited about it or in outright chaos. Change is normal and necessary because life isn't supposed to be stagnant, but sometimes change will come in very unexpected ways. Nevertheless, you gotta embrace that. I'm personally going through some major changes right now and, in being honest and reflective with myself, I can clearly see these changes have been occurring for some time now. I'm not experiencing things in the same way. 

I've felt the releasing of old patterns and mindsets and the enacting of new strengths and ambitions. I see how God has been weaning me off of broken crutches and it's forced me to lean on Him alone and also to "man up" about setting boundaries. This type of breaking can come with a lot of disappointments, 

"but you have to be disappointed so that you cannot continue to look at and hold on to the dead things." 

You slowly and painstakingly let go of those things and look to God, learning to trust His leading and the voice of the Holy Spirit within you. This also brought major things to the surface that I've danced around for way too long. In fact, I was faced with one very important question. 

"How do I draw the line between being considerate of others, giving in to entitlement and protecting myself?" 

Okay, follow me. I've never been a prying person or needed to know what was going on in another person's life. I don't like gossip or being privy to personal intimate information about others. Today it's like the world can't live without it. In fact, a lot of our social media pastime is literally built around it. Don't get me wrong, I see the beauty of social sharing when it's used correctly to engage and uplift our colorful world. 

What I want to know is, when is it okay to make choices in your life and not have a brigade of people's expectations to answer to. I'm talking regular stuff. Starting a new business, having a child etc. And where do we as people on the outside draw the line and reel ourselves in from feeling like we have a right to know, partake and be a forethought in a person's decision making when it doesn't directly affect us? I've seen people go into offense and unforgiveness over other people's right to choose. 

God has given us one life and if I look at how Jesus operated, He died to the opinions of men. He never allowed what others felt to deter Him from what He was doing. I've struggled with this for many years and even now, I still see it arising from very unexpected places. But what I am assured of in this new season of change, is the new strength I've gained from my secret place. It allows me to push past the limitations. We can not fulfill our purpose as long as we are worried about what people think or how they will feel about our life decisions. We have to be bold and go forward no matter what. And it's okay for people not to agree.

Every man must work out their salvation before God and that is the walk of life. We are not perfect and we do not know the scope of what God is doing in someone's life. So It's important to remain objective and not to become possessive or entitled over another person's life. It's wrong and controlling and that is demonic. It opens doors to demonic spirits we should not operate in. Just pray for people and wish them well. Be clear, I'm not saying stand by and let someone jump off of a bridge, but I am saying that no one belongs to you and their life is their own before God.