For thought and meditation

[rl69]

to those who are…called to be saints… 1 CORINTHIANS 1:2
Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.
There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Our little “I am” always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation— “I AM WHO I AM…has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.

[USMC87]

Amen and thanks for a great start of the day.

[Blackwater]

Sometimes, as easily as it's been from time to time in my life, to be lured away from God's will for me, and toward my own desires, I have felt literally "alone" because I knew God was no longer walking with me in the places I was going. I may have felt "justified" in my own mind in taking an alternate path, but deep inside, I knew I was wrong. There's no escaping this, I don't believe. Like an old mountain boy buddy of mine once said, "You can break anybody's rules but your own," and when we break God's laws and circumbent His will, we're breaking our own rules, because as Christians, we KNOW what the REAL rules are, and we don't get to make them.

All around us, the nihlistic cynical PC world about us says we're to be "proud" of ourselves, even if we've done exactly nothing to be proud of. We're told it's just "general principles," or some such nonsense. We're told to "do it if it feels good." Go ahead and abort that precious little child inside you, if it enables you to go out and continue being irresponsible and wanton. But that's the devil speaking, or his henchmen!

I believe it takes a humble person, and more than that, a VERY humble person, to really "see" the things that Christ intended for us to see and understand. When He walked among us, nobody was more humble than He was. How could we not follow suit in that?

And as often as not, or perhaps even moreso, it's our own prideful natures, often abetted by our illicit and someties wanton desires, that bids us go astray. And so, we are blinded by our own very natures. Only in humility can we kneel low enough to see under the cloak that hides so very much from us. Keep us humble, Lord, so we can see all that you intended for us to see. And thank you for your mercy and grace in allowing us to see what we can, and do what we do. Guard our footsteps lest we fall into traps satan sets all along our way. Protect and guide us, and love us I pray. Amen.