Hitting the Reset Button

Reset - To set again.

I wrote a short piece about slowing down this past week and Paul Wilkinson, one of my favorite bloggers,, wrote a comment:

As my eyes defocused for a second reading this I noticed the great similarity between the word "rest" and the word "reset."

He calls his blog Thinking Out Loud and, by doing that, God used Him to open up a whole other line of thought today.

It has to do with that word I mentioned in the beginning of this post. RESET.

I think that most accurately describes where I am at in my faith walk right now. The Bible talks about working out our salvation daily with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12) That daily working out is what i am experiencing right now and it is taking me back to basics.

If my the baseline of my life is my relationship with God than right now I am not where I want to be. I see that I have gotten a bit distracted by "religion" and lost a bit of my daily communion with Him as I focus more on the "stuff" we tend to add to make our relationship with God more "palatable" (comfortable would be another word.)

So I am hitting the reset button on my faith. I am trying to "Seek first the Kingdom of God." (Matt. 6:33)

Actually right now my focus is more along the lines of 1 Corinthians 2:2, " For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."

Like I said...back to basics.

Where are you at in your walk with God?

I might have to hit the reset button a few times...just so I don't lose focus.

Slowing Down

Rest

Mental or emotional tranquility.

This is one definition I found this week for the word rest.

It kind of describes where I have been these last few months. I have been learning to say the word "No" a bit more. I am trying to get to a place where I don't jump at every opportunity and try to disentangle myself from an overabundance of activity.

Psalm 46:10a, "Be still and know that I am God..."

It is so easy for me to distract myself with stuff.

It's harder for me to listen.

So I have pulled back on my writing for a season and have also been practicing my listening skills.

I am in a season of rest.

What season are you in?

What would you ask?

Matthew 7:7-8, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."

I was thinking about this Scripture this week.

It brought up a question in my mind:

If you could ask God for anything....what would you ask?

Honestly!

I would like to be all spiritual and say revival, salvation for others, etc. I would like to.

However, if I could ask God just 1 thing...I don't know if I could say that. It would probably be for health...

Yet whatever I ask for, I believe it should be according to His will:

"And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." (1 John 5:14-15)

So what would you ask?

Justice for All, Mercy for Me!

I mess up.

There are times when I blow it and do not act the way I know God would have me to act. It seems I reflect Paul's struggle in Romans 7. It is times like this I have to call out for God's mercy and forgiveness.

I recognize my need for God's mercy. Without it I would be dead...literally! I want God, and others for that matter, to forgive me when I have done wrong.

Honestly...I don't always want God to extend that same grace to others.

I am ashamed to admit, I wish at times God would do a bit more smiting! I want vindication for those who are victims. I want the guilty party to receive the justice they deserve. Drop the hammer...or at least a lightening bolt or three!

Frankly, it boils down to justice for others and mercy for me!

I am reminded of Matthew 7:1-3 which says, "“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?"

Why is it that I want to hold others to a higher standard than I hold myself? Why do I want to hold the sins of others against them?

More to the point...who am I to play God?

It's a struggle.

I see lots of "guilty" people in my line of work. Drug addicts, abusers, sinners...yet they are all where I was once...lost.

My prayer is that each finds the same measure of mercy through the work of Jesus Christ that I did.

Forgiven...a name we all need.

If We Do Nothing, Nothing Gets Done - Just A Thought #45

The world seems to be falling apart at times. You turn on the news and hear major stories of crime, abuse and other sordid events. Commercials show starving children and play heartfelt music with the intentions of getting you to give money to the latest charity or disaster relief.

It would be so easy to stick our head in the sand and ignore the trumpet calls of help! Even easier would be to toss some money at the problem to massage our consciences. Our minds tend to rest easier if we can pay someone else to help fix the problem.

If it was only that easy.

Giving money to the latest project may help solve a problem half way around the world and it is something I believe we should do as we can afford it. However, this does not release us from our obligation at home.

People are dying and going to hell.

People are hurting, worried, lonely and bitter.

They need Jesus Christ....they need you! You are the hands and feet of Christ to a hurting world. It isn't that hard to invite a stranger out for coffee or to open your home to someone in need. It isn't hard...but it is uncomfortable.

Yet, nowhere in the Bible does God call us to a life of comfort. He calls us to love with action. (1 John 3:17-18). He calls us to set aside the "I" and to look out for the interests of others. "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Philippians 2:4)

Lives are changed when we step out of our comfort zones and reach out to those we meet on a daily basis.

I find God is challenging me to step out of my comfort zone more and more each day. I want to allow God to make me a life-changer? What about you?