The Better Part, Day #122:
Rom 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
Rom 3:10 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;
Rom 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
Rom 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
The old missionary amazed Charles Stanley with twice his energy at twice his age. When he asked how to be as energetic for the Lord as her, she said, "Oh, Charles, you are as good as you're ever going to be." As he stood there gap-mouthed at what seemed discouragement rather than encouragement, she finished, "It takes the Holy Spirit to make you as good as God wants you to be."
Slightly paraphrased, but the point being, God will make us what He wants us, if we let Him- and don't get in the way.
The Better Part, Day #123:
Sometime while listening to Charles Stanley talk about "Acknowledge, surrender, faith", I was debating the question that started him on the path- "Why is it the same old stumbling spot?"- and I realized he was right about one thing. I've been fighting my worst trouble spots alone, rather than giving it to the Spirit. My son gave me a little gadget he got at a comedy show the other day- you can about guess how appropriate it was- and my first reaction was, "I'm taking this to work!" That night however, I became convicted about it- and it is still sitting where I laid it down that day. But it was only today, I realized I needed to be bringing the Spirit in on this and so many other "just me" things. Change what I find funny. Change how I react to things. Find something else to catch my eye. Put better words in my mouth.
The Better Part, Day #124:
Another Charles Stanley example of how far I have to go: He told the story of a recent fall that severely injured him. And his first reaction was wondering what test was God going to bring through the fall: "God, what are you up to now?"
Also through failure to remember the 'talk' part of "Walk, Talk, Prayer", I found myself wondering how you ever get to the point, like Nehemiah, when the test comes up and your go-to reaction is prayer!
God reminds me that habits that took years building don't get rerouted overnight...
The Better Part, Day #125:
"It's all fun and games, until..." -modern 'proverb'
Our attitude with repeated sin is a lot like Peter. You see, it was nothing for Peter to be brave, to make bold pronouncements, until... until bad things went down, and he had to stand on his own. Then he went from warrior to denier real fast. It isn't that he wasn't sincere at the time, or that he really denied Jesus, it was just he wasn't prepared for it to get serious. Are we?
The Better Part, Day #126:
Mat 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
Mat 7:23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
I just read a post from a friend who has been through the bitter end of supposed- or, in other cases, misguided- Christians who think that God respects politics, and believe that God's word is what the party tells them at the time. It makes me think of them, "But the pagans do these things also." If we are to walk with Christ, it means love for others and healing of the sick have to be 1-2 in our interactions with the world, not what Dr Doolittle did or did not say to the animals. It breaks my heart that as Christians- or supposed ones- we don't have the love in our hearts to care for others first and the common sense to tell the difference in importance between that and a political position. I pray the Christians who coat their Cross with a flag take this to heart before the passage I shared at the beginning applies to them.
A bloody good read
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