Today I have small confession to make. I love to write but I hate to edit! I still remember the editing of Sister Mary Friel in my Child Psychology class. If she found a single error on our daily writing assignment she would give it a big red check mark and return our paper with a provisional F. If we corrected and resubmitted our work by the following class our grade would be redone: if not the failing grade became ours!
This method led me to carefully inspect my work. I checked for spelling errors, footnote placement and grammatical nuance. Seeing the large red slashes across my writing bruised my ego but it trained me to become a better writer.
I love to quote Hebrews 12 about Jesus being the author and finisher of our faith. However Jesus is also wanting to become the chief editor of our hearts. He is waiting for us to submit our plans for final revisions to Him. If this morning we put our plans on His desk, He promises to lovingly correct us and help us turn in an A paper for the day!
And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you. 2 Cor 6:16-17
Being a Christian may sometimes feel like a complicated balancing act. On one hand we don’t want to be like the Pharisees whose holier than thou attitude smelled pretty stinky to God. But then we come face to face with verses in the New Testament that challenge us to boldly be different from others.
When I was small I can remember summer nights playing with my cousins in our grandmother’s back yard. Games of tag turned to Hide and seek as the afternoon shadows lengthened. Finally as darkness began to fall we would wear our selves out running with empty jars to try to catch fireflies. Finally our grandmother who we called Gammy would go out on the back porch and ring the big ships bell that grandfather had brought back from the navy ship which he captained. Hearing that bell meant to all of us that we needed to stop everything we were doing and come in.
In that same way God is ringing heaven’s bell as the shadows of time are lengthening. It is time to stop chasing after the fireflies come in to be close to Him. Quite a few years ago being separated meant that we shouldn’t join secular civic organizations, labor unions or ecumenical groups. Not to disparage those choices but on closer examination of scripture we see that He is not just calling us out. He is also calling us in.
Are you at a crossroads in your life today? Is there some decision, commitment or relationship that challenges your relationship to Jesus Christ? Making choices in life is not easy. Often good choices are the most difficult. God doesn’t promise us a comfortable and easy path. He does promise that will never walk alone. Will you walk with Him today? Does His approval mean more than the approval of neighbors, friends and even family? It won’t matter how many people like our decision. The only like that really matters comes from Jesus Christ and He gives us the awesome and fearful freedom to choose who we will walk with today!
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Peter 1:8
Wouldn’t it have been great to see Jesus walking on the waves as Peter did? Don’t you just wish some days you could at least catch glimpse of God like Moses or ask Jesus questions like Thomas? Mary got to wash His feet with perfume a
nd Martha had a front row seat as Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb. Yes most of us would love to know more details; butby God’s design we are given only His word. But what a word it is that God has given us! His word is not just the sound of a voice contacting us through sound waves. His word is living and powerful! The word of God is a light that shines in our dark place and it is our shelter from the storm. God’s word is a treasure hidden in a field and it is our pearl of greatest price. The more we struggle to understand Him, the more precious the riches of His word become. I don’t understand all of this plan which God has chosen; but by faith I am walking with my invisible God on His invisible road to His invisible destination!
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