I belief...just not enough to create change in my actions.
These two sentences sum up what I have been struggling with the past month. You may have noticed that I have not been on here much/at all. The reasons are many and varying. However, the root issue is pausing for self-examination. I was quickly working to grow this blog into something special, but realized that with all the posts, I was not changing personally at all.
My wife gave birth to our first son 6 weeks ago, and I was confronted with major holes in my spiritual life that I didn't know existed. Issues of patience, anger, know-it-all-ness, and many other issues. I realized that for all the advice I give on spiritual issues, I am not putting much into practice in my life.
A week ago I told a youth that his biggest spiritual problem was laziness. It hit me the next day: I set that example for him. I was lazy spiritually. I love the learning, I love the excitement of spiritual moments, but I disappear when it comes time to set into the long haul of running the race of Christ with endurance.
So today I set back into this blog with a new goal. I write not to share insight with you, but to seek sound biblical advice and practice for my life. I will share things that are helping me in areas of my life, and I will ask for your advice as well.
I have new goals in my life, please allow me to share them. They are all, in some way, spiritual in my mind.
- Set to the daily task of praying both conversationally and intercession-ally.
- Set aside a disciplined time of Scripture study, memorization, and reading.
- Speaking kind and uplifting words without sarcasm.
- Eliminate television and other media from my life that would not live up to my teaching standards.
- Read more.
- Seek ways to serve the community.
These are my goals. I am not wanting to take baby steps. I believe that God sent Christ to totally recreate me into what he always intended me to be, and so I am going to be sharing radical steps that I am taking in the next several days. Laziness is no longer something I can tolerate of myself.
Will you pray for me? Will you encourage me and give me advice as I seek it?
Well, this makes me pause and think. . . . back to when our first was 6 weeks old. I really love the way that God is such a good Father to us. He is kind, gentle, strict, loving, fun, gracious, patient and He works through the big life changing events (ie: life, death, conflict, etc.) in such a wonderful way. He was so precious to me and dealt with me when I was feeling vulnerable as a new parent and, even now, I still appreciate the great strides I made spiritually then. You will find that the more you open yourself up to Him, the more He will do - for you and through you. And then you will be even more humbled by how inadequate you are and how He chooses to use you anyway. You may even be amazed at the avenues He uses - I will look forward to hearing about your growth process.
ReplyDeleteI remember one of my most discouraging moments was when my friend, who was 92 at the time, told me she was having to work on some spiritual area of her life! I really had hoped that I would have "arrived" if I lived that long! :) I am pleased to say that I have learned (from her and plenty of others) that every single thing in my life can draw me to Christ AND spur me on to be everything He has made me to be.
You are on the right path - and it's narrow - keep on - one step at a time.
<3 Arlene
Thanks Arlene! I appreciate the encouragement more than you know!
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