God can and will use ANYTHING to speak to our hearts. Join me this week as I share one of His creepy crawley visual aids!
God’s Discipline
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.Ephesians 2:8-9
As I watched my hero take control of the situation and finesse the snake out from under the steps, the immediate life lesson the Holy Spirit brought to my attention was the fact that just as I was so proud of my clean garage, we often get too proud of our clean lives. Truth be told, they aren’t really as clean as we think they are, but we do look better than Joe Schmo down the street or Larry Loveless at the DMV! After we’ve walked with the Lord for a while, it’s easy to forget that our lives are clean ONLY because of Jesus. All of our righteousness is as filthy rags and there is no one who seeks to do good apart from God … no one!
About twenty-five years ago Darin and I went through an intense discipleship program, and we had to memorize a number of presentations and a ton of Scripture. After six months of this, my heart got a bit puffed up. My excitement over what I was learning turned to spiritual pride and as any good father would do, my Heavenly Father disciplined that right out of me. Here’s how He did it:
I saw them as they were making their way down the street … black pants, starched white shirts, ties … you’ve seen them — Jehovah’s Witnesses. “Come on, Baby, I can take you! I’ve got the ‘Disciple’s Cross’ memorized ,and I’ll slap a few Scriptures on you … I’m ready for this!” Let me just say that within thirty seconds, I had bolted into the house and was facedown on the carpet wailing in repentance. I was so ashamed and promised the Lord that if He would send a teacher, I would study to show myself approved unto Him, no one else, HIM! Within a few months, God had me in a Precept Bible study and He was teaching me His truth, His way.
It sure seems like once we have everything in order, the enemy comes slithering along and attempts to destroy God’s good work in our lives. While we definitely need to be on the alert, we can also rejoice that we have a Heavenly Father who loves, protects and disciplines His children.
From my heart to yours,
Tami