Read it and Then Do It

I spent part of the day doing what I felt to be spiritual battle. I have found that some things I’ve done, while moral and legal and ethical by ordinary standards, seem to be lacking by Christian standards. I felt a sudden and powerful compulsion to get on top of one of these things today.

The Bible says we perish for lack of knowledge. I think that is true (“Good IDEA, O Lord!”). We accept salvation, and then many of us let it go at that. Meanwhile, the enemy is not so lazy. He takes advantage of our ignorance and leads us into behavior that seems okay, but actually leads to defeat and stress and loss of power over our lives. For example, maybe you think it’s a good idea to stand up to your parents and fight with them when you disagree with them. Or maybe you’re a wife who thinks it’s okay to improve your husband by lecturing him and refusing to let him lead. When you do things that are against God’s way, you are planting landmines in your future. Going to heaven and living in power are two different things. If you want things to work out while you’re here, you have to learn how to think and behave.

This is what I have come to believe. The Bible makes much more sense when you realize that sins forgiven in heaven can still cause you a terrible problems on earth. Life isn’t supposed to be perfect, but it’s supposed to be good. And you have to mature in order to know what “good” means. Paul was flogged and stoned, but he was also thrilled with what God did with him. Meanwhile, Michael Jackson had fame, extreme wealth, and adoration, but he was so miserable he practically lived on antidepressants and sleep medications.

The Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. If that is true, then once in a while, if you’ve ever done anything wrong, you should expect your mind to vomit up a landmine you need to clear. You should expect God to show things about yourself that you need to fix, in order to stay close to him and be protected and taken care of. As any parent can tell you, correction is a big part of guidance.

Today has been a great day, but it has not been a fun day. I’m going to go relax. I feel so much better now. I’m getting the garbage out of my life.

Before I close, let me add something I just received in a comment:

Steve.
This was mailed to me by our church administrative assistant. It was written by Natalie, a former church member. I figured she wouldn’t mind if I passed it along:

My two year old niece, Morgan Thomas, is in the Seattle children’s hospital. She had a sore ankle, a fever, and was vomiting. My sister took her into the emergency room yesterday where they spent all evening just to find out they needed to take her to the children’s hospital. The doctors performed several tests and found out that she had a staff infection that settled in her joints. Early this morning they could not stabilize her blood pressure or her fever and they moved her into ICU. I spoke with my mom and she said that they won’t have the culture results back for two days but the doctor started Morgan on antibiotics hoping that this is the right medicine. My brother in law just accepted the Lord last week and my family believes it is a spiritual attack on my sister’s family. The other large problem was their insurance is not going into effect until tomorrow. There are several serious things that need prayer right now…

The first one being Morgan’s life. This is a life or death matter and we want prayer for the doctor’s wisdom in which medicines to use. Please pray that God will reign and that the enemy will not prevail in this situation. It has taken years of praying and interceding for my brother-in-law and now that he is a christian, his family is being spiritually attacked in many ways. Please pray for peace and strength for my family as well as the healing of Morgan. I would also like prayer that the financial situation will get worked out and that the insurance company may be willing to work with my family.
–Brad

If doing evil plants bombs in your path, then doing good plants a crop of good things you will harvest later. If that is the case, Brad’s comment is a present to everyone who reads it.