The Sermon on the Mount study continues to burn fresh in my mind. In my post about the Golden Rule, I explained the turmoil I felt from God’s conviction that I should treat others the way I want to be treated (Matthew 7:12). The study of this passage explained that we as Christians need to treat others preferentially and this was something I was having a hard time accepting. After prayer and reflection, I understood the importance of this passage and felt God calling me out on this particular teaching.

But that doesn’t mean I have followed it to a T since, nor will I ever be perfect in treating others preferentially. I fail most of the time and without God’s grace I’d surely be doomed most days. One thing I have noticed however, is my ability to recognize when I’m being a complete snot and not treating others with kindness. Conviction is what we call this. Conviction means the Holy Spirit is revealing to us areas of sin in our life that we need to repent of and change our ways (John 16:8).

You see, this happens to me daily, and when you give your life to Christ, he is constantly changing the way you think by renewing your mind and the way you live so you can be a shining light on the hill for others to see and follow (Romans 12:2 & Matthew 5:14-15). It is not easy, most of the time it sucks, and sometimes it’s a bit ridiculous the way our worldly minds try to sway our spiritual selves. But the Holy Spirit helps us not give in to these desires and instead helps to establish the fruits of the spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:16-24)

Like yesterday for example. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I let stupid emotions get the best of me for no good reason at all. I have no excuse other than perhaps God is giving me the teeniest, tiniest test to see if I’m actually listening to his word.

Yesterday was my Zumba class. And it will be my last one for a while as I’ve had to give up my gym membership for a bit. It’s a fun class involving dance and music for exercise. I love this class.  I’ve seen progress in the way my body is adjusting to the physical exercise, the dances just bring me feel-good endorphins and joy, and the teacher is amazing. She gives me so much support and confirmation in my blogging journey. She is an answered prayer. 

So, I wanted to give it my all and have as much fun as I could in this last class for a while. And everything was perfect. The song choices were fun, my steps were in sync, and I was just having a great time. And then, in walked two girls who I’ve never seen in the class before.

The girls proceeded to come to my section of the gym to dance next to me, which would have been ok, but these girls were obviously there to mess around. They were whooping and hollering during the songs, they were crowding in on my space making me move farther and farther away from my original spot, and they were just being obnoxious and distracting.

And I began to get frustrated and annoyed. They were ruining my last class. Didn’t they know this was my spot? Didn’t they know that I wanted to have a perfect last class and not be bombarded by their debauchery? Didn’t they know that this was my time, my self-care, my need to revitalize my physicality?

Sounds utterly ridiculous and super selfish writing it all out like that. But those were my initial feelings. And just when I thought I’d had enough and I was ready to turn around and scold them, the Holy Spirit yanked at my ear and whispered the reminder of the golden rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated. 

Shame began to spread through me. They were just girls after all, they weren’t hurting anyone. They were just being annoying, and probably only to me. And they probably thought they were adding to the fun of the class. Who was I to treat them unkindly when in fact Jesus calls us to treat others with only kindness and love. 

After my moment of focused listening to the Holy Spirit’s prompting, I reminded myself that this was supposed to be a fun class. I would have ruined it if I had let my bad attitude get the better of me. I also reminded myself that if I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t want some crazy old millennial yelling at me in a dance class at the gym. Seriously, that is so ridiculous when I look back at my thoughts now.

Instead of giving in to my annoyed feelings I changed my perspective and decided I would only leave this class with a pure and fun attitude and a kind heart. 

At the end of the next song, I high fived the girls and gave them the attention they were looking for. I even talked with them further explaining how the next song was really fun and I think they would like it. We danced side by side after that in a light-hearted fashion.

The class ended and they left, and I felt completely satisfied with my last Zumba class. I’m so glad I didn’t let my negative emotions get the better of me and even though it is a super small illustration of conviction from the Holy Spirit, I hope you can see that God sees even the smallest of situations and is pleased when we obey him (Philippians 2:13). 

I hope this encourages you in your walk with Christ. There will be many times when it is easy to give in to worldly emotions, but you are called to be like Christ and to show others his goodness and love and so, even in the tiniest of situations, like in Zumba class, treat others with kindness and I promise you won’t regret it.

“So the last will be first, and the first last.” Matthew 20:16 ESV