3 C's

It's Saturday again. I think I've been brain washed into thinking that it's my right as a human being to be "lazy" on Saturdays. Where did that come from? Certainly not scripture! Don't get me wrong, there's nothing the matter with some good old fashioned "rest & relaxation" but I think maybe looking at it as a right is taking things a little too far. I think even R&R can be an idol, for me anyways. Just some food for thought, at least what I'm munching on, on this snowy second day of February.

Day (February) 2:  "3 Gifts on Paper"

I mentioned my propensity to, idolize my R&R, because God woke me up today with some tough reminders, and in this awakening gave me a couple, hard-to-swallow, "gifts on paper".

1.) "Challenge." I didn't print it so it was an on-screen piece of paper, but paper none-the-less, my first gift came in email form. An email from a member of my newly found, small group family. We are currently studying Hebrews using the inductive method and this week brings us to Hebrews 11. A chapter of the Bible mainly focused on faith. Well the sender of the email challenged us to dig deep in our preparations this week and really study the meaning of the word, "faith" and come up with our own definition. I'll have to admit, I wasn't so thrilled with the assignment. "You mean in addition to Observing, Interpreting, and Applying this chapter I need to do a word study on faith? It's Saturday, I have a right to be lazy today." Yep, that was my initial reaction. Well after the second episode of my new favorite show, "Ally McBeal", I couldn't ignore his challenge any longer. This led me to my second, "gift on paper".

2.) "Conviction". One of my favorites of Pastor Kauffman's sermon series' was his on Hebrews. I remember filling my Bible with his explanations of it's text, knowing one day I would need them to better understand the words. Well today was one of those days. I got out my heavy Bible and searched the pages for Pastor Kauffman's explanations of "faith". After reading a few of my less-than-legible notes, I began to get an un-settled feeling in the pit of my stomach, "Do I have faith? Real, authentic faith?" For whatever reason this led me to open a devotional my mom gave me years ago, a devotional I had previously ignored, a devotional with a randomly placed book mark. Like any logical reader, I opened the book to the book mark, only to find that it was no coincidence that I picked this book, and no coincidence that I chose the book-marked page. The title read, "Remove the Rocks" referring to the planks in our eyes we must remove before picking at the specs in others'. Without completely bearing my soul, I'll tell you that confession hasn't been high on my priority list, in light of recent events, and my lack of confession and brokenness over my sin has been affecting more areas of my life than I would like to admit! Which brings me to my third and final, "gift on paper".

3.) "Confidence". I decided it was time for confession, and I decided I should write it down, again not sure why. I pulled out my journal, opened it up and began writing. Let me tell you, ask God to open your eyes to your sin, and break you over it, He will be faithful to do so. I had plenty to write. When I finally stopped for air I was feeling pretty discouraged, but God is good and He has a plan. My journal has verses printed on every page and the verse on this particular page was Philippians 1:6 " Being confident of this very thing that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." God is good, and He has a plan. Need I say more?