Tammy On Tuesday – Err On the Side of Jesus

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Today I want to share with you a practice I have incorporated in my life I like to call “Err on the Side of Jesus.” This concept has deepened my walk with Christ and revealed a greater understanding of the depths of His personal love, provision, grace and mercy in my life.

We all know that God’s Word tells us to live our lives in a way that pleases God. In fact, just this morning, the passage I was directed to was 2 Corinthians 7:1 –

Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.  

So, there are decisions I make and actions I take that I know in my heart will either grieve or please God.  They are cut and dry.

But, what I want to talk about in today’s blog is an area on the outskirts of conviction.  It’s an area of obedience and surrender where decisions are not necessarily choosing right from wrong and because of that, it’s a place where the whispers from God can easily be ignored.  It’s a place that I often find I just need to “err on the side of Jesus.”

These are the times in my life where I hear a whisper in my heart that I feel may be a prompting from the Lord – those moments where I feel God bringing the awareness of His presence.  I realize, at such times, I may not see clearly (with my own eyes) the reason for the prompting but I can’t deny God is pressing in.  It may be very small.  Maybe I’m holding a new blouse in my hand at a popular store.  Or maybe I’ll hear Him whisper as I scroll through the Facebook news feed.  Maybe it comes just as I am about to say something really funny to a friend and I’m prompted to “check” my tone or I wonder if the story is necessary to share.  Maybe it’s regarding how I spend my downtime.

I’ll give you an example.   Although I don’t really watch much TV, I remember a couple of years ago I got sucked in to watching a popular TV show.  Since we didn’t have DVR, I would make sure I kept that hour free each week.  Looking back now, it was as though I was protecting it.  I didn’t want anything to come between me and my show.  There was nothing particularly sinful about the show.  In fact, it was tame when I thought about much of what is on television these days.  But one day, as if it were a whisper, I felt God was asking me if I’d be willing to give it up.  I was surprised at my defensive response to such a thought… and THAT was my clue that maybe this was more than just a fleeting notion.

Like a defense lawyer I began to build my case.  “God, what’s so wrong with this show?!”  “God, I don’t feel like this show is causing me to sin!” “God, what’s the big deal if I continue to watch it or not?”

I could almost hear God’s inaudible gentle voice…”Yes, what’s the big deal if you watch it or not?”

Reflectively, I began to wonder…”Why am I so quick to defend this pastime choice?”  I’ll admit, I wrestled with this uneasiness in the pit of my stomach.  The struggle was not, in fact, about the TV show at all but more about my right to my self.  It was as if God was asking me if He had access to all of me.

After several days of grappling with the idea of giving up “my show”, I decided I would lay it as an offering at the feet of Jesus.  I wasn’t sure why I felt God prompting me to give it up but I decided to “err on the side of Jesus.”  And I cannot express to you the joy that filled me.  I felt a sense of peace and resolve that my actions were a declaration – “Yes, Jesus, you can have all of me and do with it all as you choose.”

Another example comes from a phone call I had last week.  My friend was working through a dilemma.  She signed her girls up for soccer.  This would be a new season with a new team.  She requested that her girls be together and that they could be with a team that didn’t practice on Tuesdays since that was the day of the week we have our church’s weeknight program.  My friend saw the value of this time as a time to invest in her girls on many levels and she wanted it to be a priority.

To her dismay, the league had not only put her girls on separate teams, one of the teams practiced on Tuesday nights.  She sent an e-mail to see if anything could be done and their response was not what she had hoped for.  The e-mail conveyed that they were able to put the girls on the same team BUT the team practices were scheduled for Tuesdays.

That’s where our discussion picked up.  She was talking through it with me explaining her dilemma and the need to e-mail the league once again.  She asked if it seemed too “high maintenance” to e-mail yet again and tell them the arrangement wouldn’t work.  That’s when I said to her,  “I always feel you can never go wrong ‘erring on the side of Jesus’.”  Let your decision to protect that time be an offering to Him.   When He sees that your heart is to honor Him even in areas like ‘kid’s soccer’, He is pleased by your willingness simply to say once again, “Jesus, you are Lord.”

She felt the same and decided she would make her choice to ‘err on the side of Jesus’ and deal with the ramifications whatever they might be.  Well, wouldn’t you know, before we even finished our conversation she received a text from her husband.  The league had made a mistake and needed to put her girls on another team (TOGETHER) and the practices would be held on THURSDAY NIGHTS.  I just had to laugh.

I want to say I have NEVER, ever, ever given up something to Jesus as an offering that I regretted giving up.  Instead, my awareness of His work in my life has grown and my heart has drawn even closer to Him through those whispers. I’ll be honest, I don’t always like what I hear when He whispers to me.  I find my hands are often tightly wrapped around the item in question.   I might also mention that there are times I do not ever learn the reason behind His whisper on a particular matter.  But, even in those times,  I’m able to feel the peace of making the decision an offering to show my trust in Him.

Maybe you’re the same.  Maybe you’ve heard that whisper in an area of your life and it’s coming to your mind right now.  Perhaps, while you read these words, your feel your blood pressure rise just a bit.  I didn’t say “erring on the side of Jesus” was easy or natural.  It’s just WORTH IT.

I’ve come to see this place of the “whisper of God” as a place of offerings.  “Lord, I cannot clearly see your reasoning in the prompting I’m feeling in my heart, but I do hear your whisper and I lay this (situation, pastime, possession) down before you as an offering to show you that I trust you.  I desire to please you and in all things…I want to err on the side of Jesus.”

Is God whispering to you today?  Let this opportunity be one of offering to Him.  You will find you can never out give God.  Today you can enjoy a deeper fellowship with Him all by “erring on the side of Jesus”.

Isaiah 55:8-9
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so my ways are higher than your ways
    and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.