Journaling

Well, to be kind, I have decided to have a short post this Friday - the past two Fridays have been a bit lenghty.

Anyway, I have a habit of journaling whenever I have my daily Bible reading time. I will at least write down what I read, and almost always will write down something that stuck out to me or just summarizing what the passage/chapter was saying. I think journaling is a great habit, and I would encourage everyone to keep a log of what you are reading, and even beyond that to keep a journal of what God is doing in your life. From time to time I do that, but not faithfully.

Anyway, I was looking through some old notebooks that I had some of these posts in, and I came across this one from June 23, 2003. It was from Isaiah 33:14-15, and I will write exactly what I wrote down on that date, and let the comments fall as they may. Just an old thought...

(Isa 33:14) The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
(Isa 33:15) He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

To dwell w/ the devouring fire (pass through judgment), he that walketh righteously... "that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil." Violence + sin on TV.

God's Longsuffering

One of my personal favorite attributes of God is His longsuffering. If I were God (...hearing the collective sigh of relief that I am not!...), I would not put up with me and the things that I do.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise [of His return] but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repenntance.

It is true that God does not desire anybody to go to Hell. He does not have pleasure in the death of the wicked. But some of the lost people in the world despise the riches of God's longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God, His patience and forbearance in pouring out His wrath on man, is meant to lead men to repentance (that is my paraphrase of Romans 2:4). Instead they just add wrath on top of wrath, adding more and more sin to their account.

But you know what, we as Christians are guilty of the same thing too often. We experience God's longsuffering when we do something wrong, and because He does not execute judgment right away, we deceive ourselves and think it's ok to get away with it. God's forbearance of judgment against us when we sin ought to be used for us to praise Him for it, rather than use it as a license to go deeper into sin.

1 Timothy 1:16: "...for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering..."

Just a thought...

Walk at Liberty

Psalm 119:44-45: "So shall I keep thy law continually, for ever and ever. And I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts."

While thinking on that phrase "I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts." I was imaginging what life would be like, if in every step, continually, for ever and ever, all I ever did was seek God's precepts. If my life's purpose was to follow what God wants for me without regard to other people around me. I came to the realization from this verse that the result would be that I would "walk at liberty."

I would walk at liberty from sin and the guilt associated with it - by hiding God's word in my heart. I would walk at liberty from care about the criticism of others - fearing God only, not man. I would walk at liberty from worry about straying from the right way - His word is a lamp unto my feet.

Freedom from so much, and all that I have to do: Seek God's precepts. Just a thought...

All to the glory of God... Waking up

I was thinking during my lunch break yesterday about my theme verse: Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. And I decided that I should go through and consider my day, whether it be "this day" specifically or just my daily routine. Each part of every day ought to be done for the glory of God... So, I started with the first thing... Waking up!

How do you "wake up" for the glory of God?

First of all, I really, really, really, want to be a morning person.... But, I'm not. I am still going to keep trying to become a morning person... But every attempt so far has failed. I can, and do, easily sleep through three alarm clocks going off in my house at the same time. They don't phase me - two in my room and one across the house. But, perhaps I'm off topic... How do you "wake up" for the glory of God?

(Pro 26:14) As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.

Well, we learn from this verse that a slothful man just turns on his bed. I know there are mornings (not the ones where the alarm clocks are going off) when I am awake, and just kind of roll over - or turn - to get comfortable and try to fall asleep again. Slothful? Yeah, pretty much...

We give glory to God when we wake up, when we wake up with Him as our first thought, when we thank Him for another opportunity to serve Him before we put our feet on the floor. When we slothfully turn in our beds, we are saying, "Thanks for the opportunity to serve you, but I think I'm going to stay in bed for a few more minutes..." I want to give glory to God by waking up with Him on my mind, not only His work for me that day, but with Him on my mind. You don't have to wake up early to do that, but I think it comes more naturally that way.

So, Whether therefore ye [wake up,] eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Just a thought...

What would you do?

What would you do if you weren't bought with a price and therefore commanded to glorify God in your body and in your spirit? That is, if you were your own, what would you do with your life?

I think I would probably do this: