Romans 12:6

If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else;
if you help, just help, don't take over;
if you teach, stick to your teaching;
if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy;
if you're put in charge, don't manipulate;
if you're called to give aid to people in distress,
keep your eyes open and be quick to respond;
if you work with the disadvantaged,
don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them.
Keep a smile on your face.

This verse caught my eye today. I was doing one of those random searches that I frequently do on Bible Gateway. This came up. And as I read it, I did some serious thinking. Self-examination, I believe the "technical" term is.

The first thing here is in reference to preaching. I don't preach. I'm not called to it - at least not right now. I can't say God will never place that call on or in me, but for now, it's not there. But at the same time... I realize that what I write here might be construed by some as "preaching." I don't mean or intend it that way, but that doesn't mean nobody reads it as such. So I need to be careful with my words. When I refer to God, or walking with Him, I need to make sure that whatever I say is in His Word. Because what if I say something that's "off" and somewhere, someone reads it as truth and is hurt or suffers because of it?

Next it talks about help. There have been several times when I've clearly been in a position where I can and should help. And when I do that, it can be hard not to just take over. To say, "You don't know how to do this. I do. I'll do it for you." Because that's not helping. That's taking over.

Those are the two parts of this verse I'm focusing on tonight. Perhaps tomorrow I'll keep going. Stay tuned - I've got another post up my sleeve. It may go up tonight, or tomorrow morning. I'm not quite sure yet.