He's always speaking =)!

So this morning as I really didn’t want to move out of bed after not getting much sleep, I turned to Psalms 1 as part of today’s reading. It’s all about living in His will and not going your own way. Vs 1-3 talk about the blessing of being in His will, vs 4-6 the consequences of not!

I totally love verse 2 though: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” It really challenged me, is my delight truly in His Word? Or do I only delight in it when it helps me out of a sticky situation because I remember the ‘classic’ verses? What about those which aren’t recited day in, day out by everyone else? Do I delight in those? This lead me onto another train of thought (seriously again, how AWESOME is God when He does that!); Col 3:13 NIV “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” In the NLT “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” I love the interpretation in The Message (which is 12-14) “So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you; compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.”

Whoa! That seriously changed a thought process in my mind. How often do people ‘make allowances’ for my faults?? Ouch! Probably way more than they should need to sadly! So, this morning, my time with God not only made me reflect on how I accept others but also on who I am and what ‘faults’ people have had to ‘bear with’!

Although it’s no new revelation, it was an important one to always remember. He also reminded me that no matter what, I have to surround myself with those who are true to living out HIS WORD! That’s hard, because it means in EVERY part of life – not just the main ones … you know, don’t cheat someone, lie to them, hurt them deliberately … but issues of integrity – living according to the law of the land … the big kicker … downloading shows/music illegally … an extremely sensitive topic for some but quite basically, as Ps Russell and Ps Matt have said from the platform (as well as other Pastors), DON’T DO IT!

I struggle with that the most I think. Here are phenomenal men and women of God who download because either everyone else does it, or it doesn’t really hurt anyone … I don’t want to risk doing it because who knows when Jesus will call me home? I certainly don’t want to have the first thing He says to me “You lived out the life I gave you pretty well but why didn’t you obey all the rules of the land? I placed you under the authority of those in charge of where you lived and you disobeyed”. It’s scary to think when I disobey God but to disobey those He places above us in authority is just as important to comprehend. We tend to think of our Pastors, Church Leaders, Urban Life leaders etc but very rarely do we think of those who govern our country and the laws within it.

And my goodness, that so includes obeying the rules of the road – which I really do need to watch. So I’m not sitting on a tree going … ‘blah, blah, blah’; I certainly have aspects that I need to address but interestingly, some people don’t see that addressing this area of obedience as highly as obedience within our church walls. I certainly don’t want to alienate my friends from life but really, we only get one chance at living this life and if people are serious about living for Him (and claiming that they are Christian especially), then maybe, just maybe, we all need to work on it a little more. If it means I have to walk the walk with a little distance for awhile then, cool. God also wants me to address my life so it can only be a good things when we keep more in tune with Him =).

xo