The Failure To Pay Close Attention
4/15/2015
The high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days. —2 Chronicles 15:17
Asa was not completely obedient in the outward, visible areas of his life. He was obedient in what he considered the most important areas, but he was not entirely right. Beware of ever thinking, “Oh, that thing in my life doesn’t matter much.” The fact that it doesn’t matter much to you may mean that it matters a great deal to God. Nothing should be considered a trivial matter by a child of God. How much longer are we going to prevent God from teaching us even one thing? But He keeps trying to teach us and He never loses patience. You say, “I know I am right with God”— yet the “high places” still remain in your life. There is still an area of disobedience. Do you protest that your heart is right with God, and yet there is something in your life He causes you to doubt? Whenever God causes a doubt about something, stop it immediately, no matter what it may be. Nothing in our lives is a mere insignificant detail to God.
Are there some things regarding your physical or intellectual life to which you have been paying no attention at all? If so, you may think you are all correct in the important areas, but you are careless— you are failing to concentrate or to focus properly. You no more need a day off from spiritual concentration on matters in your life than your heart needs a day off from beating. As you cannot take a day off morally and remain moral, neither can you take a day off spiritually and remain spiritual. God wants you to be entirely His, and it requires paying close attention to keep yourself fit. It also takes a tremendous amount of time. Yet some of us expect to rise above all of our problems, going from one mountaintop experience to another, with only a few minutes’ effort.
~ Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest
~ Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest
We welcome Conversation
ReplyDeleteBut without Vituperation.
If your aim is Vilification ––
Other forms of Denigration ––
Unfounded Accusation --
Determined Obfuscation ––
Alienation with Self-Justification ––
We WILL use COMMENT ERADICATION.
EIther be pertinent or be gone.
Sadly I fear you are preaching to an empty church, but the message is valid nonetheless whether clothed in religious dressing or not.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Finntann. Since I am interested in what-I-believe-to-be the Truth, I long ago resigned myself never to win any popularity contests.
DeleteIt may sound corny or perverse, but I really would rather be right than president.
From my point of view if one is sincerely religious, it is downright impossible to separate one's religious convictions from any decision on might make in other areas. This has nothing to do with imposing ritual, dogma or physical symbols of the faith on anyone, but rather "letting your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven."
Talk is cheap, ritual may be empty more often than not, but honest, prayerful consideration of the effects one's actions and decisions may have on society and one's personal relationships should be a prerequisite for anyone assuming a leadership role.
I have come to look at "religion," if we must call it that, as a kind of oasis. It offers refreshment, renewal and added strength to continue life's journey, but no one can FORCE another to partake of revitalization no matter how advisable it may seem.
The Truth is the Truth no matter who says it. Too bad Truth frightens and alienates more people than it helps, but that gives no cause for abandoning the search for Truth.
Amen to that!
DeleteWhat good is your faith if you don't live it?
That is why leftwing progressive attacks on religious liberty are so insidious. They want to reduce 'religion' to a set of empty, dessicated rituals confined within the four wall of a building.
Meanwhile, they preach their religion using every physical and electronic soapbox in the nation. And yes, their orthodoxy is every bit as much of a religion as Christianity. And they will hate you for saying it, because most people would rather remain deaf and blind. To quote Jack Nicholson, they can't handle the truth, because, to quote Jesus Christ, the truth shall set you free, and freedom can be a scary thing.
If you haven't lived anywhere but in America you're quite possibly complacent about the state of this union. Perhaps you sense that something is wrong but in time it will all be satisfactorily resolved because our system of government protects us. This is no longer a country of laws, morality or honesty.
ReplyDeleteOur biggest enemy is our own government. It's no longer just corrupt - it's evil!
While we endure the daily lies of President Obama, do we really want to have another four to eight years more of Hillary Clinton’s?
Finntann is right. The pews are empty -- in more ways than one, including when the pews are full. **sigh**
ReplyDeleteBetter that two or three shall gather in sincerity to love and serve the Lord than thousands fill a stadium puffed up with with pride to cheer His Image making of Him an idol and of themselves a vain, hypocritical, empty-headed spectacle.
DeleteAlthough it seems the myths of Weems
ReplyDeleteAnd Bowdler's thoughts were nasty,
The finest seams sewn up in dreams
Tear with iconoclasty.
Construction sought begins as naught
But someone's fondest wish.
We'd better praise uplifting Thought
Than treat it like spoilt fish!
~ FreeThinke