Here is the heart-led way: Get to know reality; it’s a person like you and I, but without the fallen nature. It won’t be quite the same for any two of us because it is alive and has a personality. Your reality is just as good as mine, and really should be somewhat different.
You get to know reality through your convictions. Your reason sets your opinions and beliefs, but your convictions existed before you were conscious. They are seeds of God’s moral character planted in the soil of Eternity for you. So you should get into the habit of bouncing your thoughts off your convictions via your conscience. The whole thing is alive and dynamic, so it will appear to you to change over time. Convictions grow, and your conscience — as the point of awareness of convictions — will grow and change with them.
When you are confronted with someone demanding you change your beliefs and thoughts, it doesn’t matter what power or logic they marshal; stick with your convictions. Your convictions are the voice of God in your heart. They are an indicator of His calling and mission for you. No other being has the authority to make changes to your conscience. Your convictions are the real you, the person God made for His purpose.
God does speak through His servants. Your heart will recognize His voice, just like a sheep born under a good shepherd. That voice can even come through people who don’t know Him, simply because He reserves the prerogative to speak through whom He wishes. Regardless of what message people intend, He can use it for His glory. The difference is that His servants are blessed by His glory, and they know it. They revel in the shalom of conscious obedience. Everyone else is used for His glory like unwitting tools.
And because this is all growing and living, yesterday’s lie might become today’s sweet truth. As long as you don’t take yourself too seriously and you walk humbly before the Lord, you’ll be ready to hear sweet music that once hurt your ears and jangled your nerves.
Walk in the light you have today.
‘Walk in the light you have today.’ And even when there is darkness, the light is always there! Sometimes we just have to look for it.