my incapability

isaiah 2:3-4

They’ll say, “Come, let’s climb God’s Mountain, go to the House of the God of Jacob. He’ll show us the way he works so we can live the way we’re made.” Zion’s the source of the revelation. God’s Message comes from Jerusalem. He’ll settle things fairly between nations. He’ll make things right between many peoples. They’ll turn their swords into shovels, their spears into hoes. No more will nation fight nation; they won’t play war anymore. Come, family of Jacob, let’s live in the light of God.

i want to know the way YOU work so i can live the way i’m made.  i can’t imagine a time when the nations feel like everything is settled between them and been made right.  in other words, i can’t imagine, i don’t have the capacity to imagine how capable you are of doing the things that seem like they can’t be done.  in my life, where i have played war, where i have decided that i have a right to anger or justice, i am sorry.  i want to live in YOUR light, the light of YOU my GOD.

my worship charades and my next prayer-performance

isaiah 1:13-15

Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.

this goes right back to what i was looking at in matthew yesterday.  i am so busy trying to atone for what Jesus did on the cross with my religious activity.  i focus on what i should have done, or should be doing, or what i didn’t do, or what i did do that i shouldn’t have, and i ignore what HE did.  Jesus set everything straight on the cross.  HE atoned for everything that i will ever do that doesn’t align with HIM, and i can’t re-atone for the atonement.  that doesn’t even make sense.

beyond that, these works will never save me, but faith without works is dead.  i heard a pastor say that there is no such thing as backsliding.  if the HOLY SPIRIT tells you not to do something, and you do it, regardless of whether you are repeating some sin that you’ve already confessed, you are willfully sinning.  this passage in isaiah shows how that affects the way GOD sees us.  there have been times in my life where i would pray and it didn’t matter how long or loud or often i would pray, it seemed like HE wasn’t listening.  friends would tell me that HE will answer in HIS timing, when they should have said, “dude, stop sinning.  stop acting as if GOD can’t see what you do when no one is looking.  give up the act and maybe HE will listen.”

my house

Matthew 7:24-27

“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock.  Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.  “But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach.  When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.”

it doesn’t have to be like the second one.  work these words into me.  these words that Jesus speaks, let them define what i am doing, who i am becoming, how i am living.  let me base what i believe on HIS words, and not apply HIS words to what i believe.  where there is no foundation, today, let me have the courage to tear down the house and make room for a foundation.  i bring nothing to the table.  nothing that YOU haven’t already given me.  let me remember that all day.

my desire

Jude 1:16-18

These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”

it is difficult to know where our desires perfectly align with HIS desires.  i know that i (depending on the day/mood/amount of sleep/other excuses) can grumble.  i know that i can find fault in others.  i know i can follow a desire of my own without even questioning whether or not it is evil or ungodly.

i am reminded of something my friend joanna told us last summer about advantage.  she told us that you can’t be taken advantage of if you give the advantage away.  if i am a boaster, if i choose to flatter others out of a vain attempt to gain advantage, i have done the opposite of what she has said.  not only am i keeping the advantage, i am addidng to it.  Jesus gave the advantage away.  for sure.

so what am i doing with these desires?  am i following them blindly?

today, i will at least test the desires in me.  i will ask YOU for alignment, not YOUR blessing.