{"id":640,"date":"2024-01-22T11:56:43","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T17:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.faithrestores.com\/?p=640"},"modified":"2025-04-20T22:58:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T04:58:26","slug":"rules-to-live-by-and-ones-to-let-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.faithrestores.com\/index.php\/rules-to-live-by-and-ones-to-let-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Rules to Live by… and Ones to Let Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Growing up I learned many things I\u2019ve remembered\u2014and some I need to forget. It\u2019s like a memory buffet. I\u2019ll take what I need and leave the rest.<\/p>\n

These go on my plate:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Be kind to people<\/li>\n
  2. Respect your parents<\/li>\n
  3. Don\u2019t take the Lord\u2019s name in vain<\/li>\n
  4. When you stay at someone\u2019s house, leave your room as clean as you found it<\/li>\n
  5. Say \u201cthank you\u201d and \u201cplease\u201d<\/li>\n
  6. Avoid cursing<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These I\u2019ll skip:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Don\u2019t talk, don\u2019t trust, don\u2019t feel<\/li>\n
    2. If someone gets upset, it\u2019s probably your fault<\/li>\n
    3. Whatever went wrong, you need to fix it<\/li>\n
    4. If someone does you a favor, you owe them<\/li>\n
    5. You should be thin and pretty<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Number one is important. If I can remember to be kind to everyone I encounter, it sets the tone for everything else. It\u2019s not always easy, especially when others aren\u2019t kind in return. But Jesus didn\u2019t say it would be easy. He said it was the second greatest command after loving Him.\u00a0Love your neighbor\u00a0as yourself. There is no other command\u00a0greater than these.<\/em>\u00a0Matthew 12:31<\/p>\n

      Ones I really want to let go are 7-9, because they work together. The implication is I\u2019m not allowed to share my feelings or opinions. If I do so and someone doesn\u2019t like it, it\u2019s my fault. Even if I said it in a respectful manner, I am wrong because they are angry. I am responsible for their reaction and must apologize.<\/p>\n

      I won\u2019t live in this prison of approval anymore. I have as much a right to express myself as anyone else if I do it politely. If the other person gets angry or walks away, so be it. I won\u2019t try to fix something I didn\u2019t break.<\/p>\n

      What else should I discard? Number 10\u2014the idea that a person\u2019s kind gesture to me has a string attached. I must pay them back (quickly!) or I won\u2019t have \u201cearned\u201d my value to them. Am I saying I won\u2019t do something for them too? No. Perhaps I will. But if I do, it\u2019s because it occurred to me naturally\u2014out of love\u2014not a sense of obligation. It\u2019s not a contest. It\u2019s a relationship.<\/p>\n

      Now for number 11. It seems like an outlier, doesn\u2019t it? But it\u2019s not. What it tells me is my worth is reliant upon my appearance, of which I have little control. This is counter to my identity as a child of the Lord Jesus Christ. He made me the way I am, in His image. My value comes from Him.\u00a0For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.\u00a0<\/em>Romans 8:29<\/p>\n

      It also ties into the other skip items on my list, because being concerned about my appearance suggests I\u2019m seeking approval from the world and taking on its standards instead of the Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n

      Some of these items may have served me in the past, but not now. I don\u2019t need them anymore. My plate is full.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Growing up I learned many things I\u2019ve remembered\u2014and some I need to forget. It\u2019s like a memory buffet. I\u2019ll take what I need and leave the rest. These go on my plate: Be kind to people Respect your parents Don\u2019t take the Lord\u2019s name in vain When you stay at someone\u2019s house, leave your room […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faithrestores.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faithrestores.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faithrestores.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.faithrestores.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.faithrestores.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.faithrestores.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642,"href":"https:\/\/www.faithrestores.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions\/642"}],"wp:attachment"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