November 19, 2007
I’ve been going through my blog entries, and I’ve noticed a disturbing pattern of consistency…there’s no pattern of consistency. Every couple of weeks I have this random burst of insight into something, then nothing. And almost every time, it’s a one-shot entry. Although there are trends and common themes, I rarely come back and follow up on anything I’ve written.
It’s a model of my spiritual life, and it’s frightening because of the implications.
This is where I’d usually dig in more and write a long insightful piece about what those implications are, but tonight I think I just want to leave this here for a while and see if I can start developing some more consistency—both in my spiritual walk, and in my posts. I’m going to aim for two things over the next couple of weeks, and we’ll see if I can make it. I want to spend some time (even a little) in scripture every day, and I want to post something to my blog every day, even if it’s short. I’ll still take the time to write the longer pieces as often as I can manage, but I need to discipline myself to engage in my relationship with the Lord, and writing here is something that I know will help.
November 6, 2007
I had quite an interesting—and frankly quite shocking—revelation the other day. I’ve always thought that as Christians, we are supposed to love one another and not judge or condemn. That it was God’s place to judge and that whenever we were judgmental, we were violating God’s intention for our relationships with each other.
Then I read 1 Corinthians 5:12, which reads in part, “it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.” (NLT). Ouch….
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October 12, 2007
Well, I figured out a way to cut off the last tendon of my hand and think I finally really threw it away. Not to say there won’t be the temptation to go rooting through the trash tomorrow or next week or next month, or sometime down the road to try and find the landfill it ends up in, but I have to lean on God to avoid giving in to that temptation. He’s the one who knows the next step and the one after that, and He’s the only one who can teach me how to live this new life He has planned for me.
There is however, another side to this—the fact that the hand that I had to cut off was another person, another child of God, not just a nameless sin. Yesterday, I quoted Matthew 18:8 in reference to cutting off the hand that causes me to sin. But there’s also scripture that says we need to reconcile with our Christian brothers, and I’m really wrestling with the meaning of it all.
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October 6, 2007
I’ve been struggling for a few days with this whole concept of developing a relationship with God and with my friends. And of course, as has been God’s pattern for quite a while in my life, as soon as I raise a question, He brings me the answer, or at least the start of one. This time he hit me over the head twice: yesterday’s post in the Fischtank and a devotional our pastor gave in service on Wednesday night.
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