Reflections...

Saturday mornings are a great time to reflect on the week just over and to re-assess where the Lord wants me to go in the week to come.  It's quite, it's peaceful, and I am not distracted by the need to get ready for work...


Of late, I have found my devotions meandering a bit.  I realize when this happens I frequently turn back to the book of James.  Both yesterday and today, I was struck by two very familiar verses - but God, in His wisdom, makes his word "new every morning"!  (along with his mercies!)


James 1:8 - "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."  I've always interpreted this verse to be similar to verse 6, in that "double-minded" meant that he could not decide - that he was easily swayed.  But my Scofield reference bible cf. Proverbs 3:5, which says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding."


This would seem to indicate then, that "double-minded" refers to a practice of trusting God one minute, but then trusting my own wisdom, my own wicked heart, the next minute!  Jumping from the solid, firm foundation of God's Word to the squishy, slippery loam of my own understanding of things, which is inevitably shaped by persuasive speech, Satan's lies, and under the influence of feelings or emotions.


But in order to stand  on the firm ground, I have to know where the firm ground is and what it is!  How can I stand on something I am unsure of?  I need to KNOW God's Word.


Today's thought-provoking verse is James 1:22 - "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."  We so often stop at "only", leaving off the last phrase, "deceiving your own selves."  But there is nothing superfluous in God's Word - so there is great importance to that last phrase.


We deceive ourselves if we think that just because we go to church we are being "obedient" to the Lord.  Yes, we may be hearing his word, but we're not doing His Word, and we're not being completely obedient!


For example, am I being "kind one to another?" (Eph. 4:32).
Am I going to the brother who has "ought against" me? (Mt.5:23-24)
Am I "exhorting" one another?  (Heb.3:13)
Am I "praying" to the Lord?  "Seeking" His counsel?  (Prov.8:17)
Do I "esteem others" more highly than myself?  (Phil.2:3)


Again, it all comes back to our knowledge and understanding of God's Word.  We cannot have firm footing on something we can't even find and we can't do something of which we have no knowledge!


I am convinced more and more that the Bible is the key to godly, growing, joyous, abundant Christian living - and we, as born again believers - woefully ignore and under utilize the very tool God has given us for success!


Naaman was told that in order to be cleansed from leperosy, he had to go wash in the Jordan river 7 times, and he become upset at this.  But his servants said to him, "...if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?  How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean?"  (2 Kings 5:13)


Indeed.  God hasn't asked us to accomplish some strenuous physical feat.  Nor has He asked us to solve an inexplicable riddle.  All that He asks is that we read.  That we think.  That we apply.  Whether you are of Herculean strength or bedridden with the strength of a newborn kitten, it makes no difference.  Either can still accomplish God's will.


So what's your excuse?  Deceive not yourselves....


~Tammy~