Within or Without

I don't know about you, but I have realized that we aren't always going to walk the right path, no matter how 'determined' we are. There will always be alternatives, and we will not always select the right one. The issue isn't that we will veer off-course from time to time, it is that we should never make those 'veers' a permanent life choice. We need to learn to recognize them quickly, come before God in humility, acknowledge our need to get back on-course, and then let him help us take the right steps forward.

Godliness guards the path of the blameless, but the evil are misled by sin. (Proverbs 13:6)

A guarded path is much harder to veer off of than an unguarded one. We may try, but there is always protection to get us back on course or keep us there in the first place. It has good defenses to ensure there is nothing that can act as a destructive force on that path. The evil heart actually chooses a non-guarded path because it is more 'appealing' to their base sense of 'adventure', 'thrill', or 'interest'. It is kind of like driving on a road with no guard rails to keep you from going over the steep edges. 

The issue is which 'pull' will be heed most often. Will we heed the 'pull' toward right choices, or will we need the 'pull' toward what satisfies our fleshly desires. When the 'pull' to do whatever satisfies our fleshly desires is greater than the 'pull' toward obedience, we have a problem. There is always protection offered over our lives, but it must be recognized as a 'barrier' meant to keep us safe, and then we must make every effort to stay within that barrier. As with the guard rail on the road, they only protect us when we take notice, heed their warning, and realize than nothing good will come from going over them!

Blameless people don't really exist, do they? We might make right choices 'most of the time', but are we truly 'blameless'? If we read this the way God intended us to read it, we simply realize that when we 'goof up', we have a way back. We still have choices, but we are likely making correct ones more than we are making the incorrect ones. We are walking a path with a 'guide' that brings us back when we make a choice to go beyond the barrier. Godly people are grace-filled, and that grace draws them back into a protected path once again. Sin might be an occasional problem for the godly, but it is a lifestyle for the ungodly. We choose to live within or without protection - so we must choose wisely. Just sayin!

Love prospers when...

Forgiveness is the final form of love. (Reinhold Niebuhr)

Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends. (Proverbs 17:9)

While it might seem odd to begin a new year with the intention of focusing on 'faults', let me assure you there are probably more than a few who brought relationship hurts into this year, as they have in years past. It has become a weight around their necks, dragging them down, but from which they cannot figure out how to be free. The truth of the matter is that forgiveness might not begin in the 'other guy's court' as much as it needs to begin in ours! Love prospers when hurts can be quickly mended. Whenever we allow our hurts to become huge, gaping holes in our hearts, we will find it harder and harder to let go of that hurt. It festers long after the one who inflicted it has left the scene. 

What may see counter intuitive to some is that forgiveness often begins with the one who is offended, not the one who has committed the offense. While it is possible some may recognize a hurt has been committed by their actions, it is a rare occurrence indeed that the 'harming party' is the first to knock on the door of the one they have offended, seeking forgiveness and restoration. Yet, this is Christ's way - no one is 'exempt' from being the 'first to the door' when an offense has been recognized. Does forgiveness always come easy? Definitely not! Sometimes it is the furthest thing from what we 'want' to do. We 'want' revenge! Yet, God's plan is for us to 'release' and 'trust'. Release the individual to him - trust him to do what only he can do in regard to the relationship.

Dwelling on an offense only makes the offense appear bigger than it was. It is an amazing thing to observe what a mind can do when allowed to dwell upon something that was actually a small oversight, or a lack of common sense on somebody's part. That 'small' thing can become an 'enormous' thing when the imagination is allowed to dwell upon it, nudging it along instead of letting it go. The longer we hold onto an offense, the more that offense has the ability to burrow into our subconscious, wreaking havoc on our emotions, and unsettling our spirit all the more. It is best to allow God to examine our hearts, find any offense we have 'squirreled away', and help us to let it go. Just sayin!

A vacuuming lesson

Do you think God wants to judge anyone 'guilty' as they stand before him? If you know anything about scripture, you will know it is quite the opposite - for God "did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17) God's greatest joy is to receive us each into his great big family through the work of his Son, Jesus. If we desire to be free of guilt, we only need ask for that gift!

The Light has come into the world, but they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things. All who do evil hate the light and will not come to the light, because it will show all the evil things they do. But those who follow the true way come to the light, and it shows that the things they do were done through God.” (John 3:19-21)

When we ask for light, we receive it and so much more. Grace comes in waves upon waves. Aren't you glad that grace is limitless? How is it that grace begins to do more than just remove our 'guilt' and 'shame'? Grace brings a new way of living - a new way of making choices - not for us, but according to God's will. How does God change our life from dark to light? By giving us the light that never goes out - the light that illuminates every area of our life, making it impossible to bury any of our guilt or shame any longer.

Grace has a way of digging up our guilt, bringing it to the surface so the light can finally take it away. As I was vacuuming this morning, I found if I kept the lights off in the room, using the very bright light on the vacuum to illuminate the path of the vacuum, I saw all the pieces of dirt that had been hidden with the other light on in the room. It took getting light close to the 'dirt' to actually expose it! Sometimes we may not feel all that comfortable having light shown into our 'darkest spots', but if we want to actually be rid of the 'dirt' once and for all, we may have to let God's light get closer to those areas than we might like!

Darkness, or even a dim light, has a way of concealing much that really needs to be dealt with, but remains a bit too well hidden. We might feel more comfortable with the dim light, but God wants us to have the brightest light possible - his Son! That way we will be able to be rid of the dirt that just serves to muck up our lives. Just sayin!