2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

What do you do with scriptures that on the face of the text in comparison, leads you to wonder if perhaps there is room for doubt as to meaning? Do you wrestle with the context? Do you wrestle with your understanding? Do you wrestle with your faith?

I dare say there will be times when others, if not yourselves, pose difficult scenarios in which easy answers are not always apparent. How do we deal with these questions?

My advice, and this is me speaking, is to break down the issues into their base details in order to see if you are comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges. That is the first issue to address.

2 Thess. 3:3 basics, the Lord’s faithfulness, your establishment, your protection.

Heb. 6:4-6 basics, communion, power and apostasy.

If you can see that I have been fair in my assessment of the basic principles of these verses, then you can honestly say you are comparing apples and oranges and at this point erase the line drawn between the two as a thing to be compared.

If the person offering up the scenario cannot erase that line drawn connecting the two, then you have bigger problem that must be dealt with first.

Job 6:25 How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?

Proverbs 26:21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.

Proverbs 31:25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

Often times I am given a word by the Lord and it is up to me to search out His intentions. Today is was dignity. In this one current assignment I have found a difficult and demanding task. Within the bible there is a sense of being lifted up, worthiness in the eyes of others. Even the more straightforward dictionaries carry a sense of having earned a position of honor and respect based on someone else’s opinions.

It is the modern era of enlightenment that its use in moral, ethical, legal, medical, and political realms that the word has taken on ambiguous definitions. In sometimes it is purposely undefined as if it is a given, a thing understood without discussion. It was in this long list of arenas and usages that I lost my way. How could I bring this word into context and relativity to my readers when I could not get a firm grasp upon such an elusive subject? Then the Lord brought back into memory an event that happened many years ago.

An old woman I spied in an alley one day, obviously wearing everything she owned, because she had no place to keep them, searched the ally for discarded aluminum cans. She pushed a rusted ragged discarded shopping cart, filling it with cans she had found. As I approached her, the stench indicated she had not bathed perhaps since the last rains. I offered her money to help her. She pushed my hand away and said in a strong voice of conviction…

“I have my dignity.”

Personal dignity cannot be imposed nor defended by the opinions and standards of others. It is self-imposed by a strong belief system. In Christians it is faith based. Proverb 31:25.