How Flexible Are You?

Circumstance should not determine our values, and our convictions should not be subject to change.   ~~~   I have been in the midst of several counseling sessions, where I have heard with my own two ears a husband or wife say, “I know that leaving my spouse is what the Lord wants me to do,” even though they know clearly it goes against God’s very own word. What is their basis? Their basis for morality is their own personal situation. They are not happy. They are not getting what they want. It’s not going their way. So they want out. To live upon conviction of God’s word requires the will of man that has been redeemed by Christ to be yielded to Christ. “What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place…A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.” G.K. Chesterton, in Christian Theology in Plain Language, p. 65. (https://bible.org/illustration/misplaced-humility) We no longer tend to be people who live by conviction, but by preference so long as the situation is favorable. But as soon as the situation gets difficult, uncomfortable, not to my liking, we often times discover that we what we thought was a conviction is merely a preference. We see in 1 Samuel 26 that David grew in his trust in God’s word and ability do justice. He does not let circumstance determine his values. His convictions are not subject to change, here at least, based on ease of opportunity. I wonder, how flexible are your principles?