September 2026

#84 Telltale Signs

Please consider:

The great commandment is Love.

Mk 12:30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.

In essence, the commandment is about relationships. Relationships do two things. They bring out the best in us, and they bring out the worst in us. As we mature in our Faith, we are increasingly humbler and discerning and can honestly distinguish between the best and the worst. This is not only true as we recognize it for others. It is also true as we recognize it for ourselves.

Two of the easiest telltale signs of the worst in us is offensiveness or defensiveness.

Matt 18:7Woe unto the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Lk 21: 14But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.

As we mature in our Faith, we are increasingly transformed into the image and likeness of God. Our demeanor is evermore humble, gentle, and loving.

With all of this in mind, if we discern any ungodly demeaner in our heart, we have the opportunity to enter our prayer closet and seek God to transform our hearts.

With all of this in mind, if we recognize any ungodly demeanor in the heart of others, we have the opportunity to enter our prayer closet to seek God's inspiration as to if, when, and how to bring it to their attention, in a non-offensive way. Absent of a non-offensive way, we are likely to make things worse and not better. The non-offensive way is "loving". If they become defensive, our only Godly resolve is to again enter our prayer closet to know if, when, and how to best proceed.

These are sensitive and subtle issues that can only be resolved as we prayerfully seek God first and His righteousness. Anything less than loving is not Godly.

Blessings,

Robert Benedict