Steel Toed Boots

I once heard Sarah Palin say that to be in politics you had to wear steel toed boots all the time, and a suit of armor at other times.
When you are in the public eye, especially a politician, it seems, you can do no right. When you do one thing, some people are happy, and some are not, but then when you do something else it is the other way around. It seems the more Conservative and honest you are the more you get criticized. I believe Sarah knows exactly what she is talking about. She is talked about in a way I would really not like, in part because she confesses her faith in Jesus Christ.
Being a Christian in these days, is like being a target at the rifle range. Everyone WILL take a shot at you. If your not feeling the heat, your not letting your faith be known, and this is not faith.
We need to wear steel toed boots, like Sarah, and let these accusations, lies, rumors, hate speech etc, hit us, but not be wounded by them. They are just talk, and that can have no effect on us, IF we have ourselves grounded in God.
You see, God will forgive our sins, BUT satan uses them to try and depress us and stop us from going forward. He will use our past in any thing we try to do in the future. If we run for public office, the past will haunt us, regardless of how long ago, or how tiny the problem was, it will be found. But also in our daily walk with Him, satan will try and use our past to block our future. He will remind us sometimes daily, of what we did, back then and get us thinking we have failed. Only one problem, God has thrown that sin away as far as the East is from the West, He does not know what sin we are talking about. Who is more important here, satan, or the one true living God?
I have never had any desire to be a politician mainly for this reason, I don't want my trash gone through, to see if there is anything in my life that can be used against me.
I recently read that the press was trying to make a big deal out of the fact that Rick Perry's dad had a nazi slogan painted on a rock on some property he owned when Perry was a kid, like about 30 years ago, Wow, how relevant is that? Are the trying to say that Perry will not make a good president because of something his dad did 30 years ago? I guess so.
We Christians must be thick skinned, wearing steel toed boots, armor, helmets, whatever way you want to look at it, we are and will be hated. Why? because they hate Jesus Christ. Why? because He is perfect, and they are not, and they cannot understand, or do not want to understand, why.
Actually it is all about power. Like most things in this world. You see, by turning over your life to God, they see, you are giving Him all the power you may have. They think that letting God control your life as a weakness, that your using Him as a crutch. Have your ever been told this: "God will not be my crutch like he is yours." They are basically saying that they think they are stronger then God and can do it all by themselves. Pride, I am better then you, God, I got this one. And God says: "Fine, you continue to try, and when you fail, and you will, I will STILL be there for you to come running to."
So put on your Steel Toed Boots, your suit of armor your helmets, your shin guards, your breast plate, grab your sword...let's go, God is our leader, and where He goes there is no pride, there is no wrong, there is no destruction, there is only faith, trust hope and love. As Ephesians 6:13-17 tells us: Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
We cannot be wrong when we are on God's side. He will help us, He will guide us, but He never said we would not be hated, ridiculed, lied about, ...............
Remember Paul told us to "Count it all joy" when we suffer for Christ. (James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations)
So lets get ready for some JOY< because the temptations, the sin, the pain, the ridicule, the hatred is going to get worse before Jesus come back to rescue us and take us home. COUNT IT ALL JOY.