... after the sermon
I just have to say, I really love our church home. It's not a rare occasion that a sermon or series hits so close to home for me (and our family) that it actually feels like it was written by God to be hand delivered to us. It's such an encouragement. I write this now because the last post I wrote was so much exactly what the teaching was talking about today. We've been in a series called David; Giants Must Fall. Today was about "the drift of complacency".
Man-oh-man does this describe exactly what I was trying to express in my previous post. Even without looming life challenges to distract me, the nearly undetectable "drift of complacency" moves me steadily and stealthily away from my mission and purpose until I find myself outside the boundaries of the life God has for me. Some giants are larger than they appear...
When the enemy knows he can't take us down with the bigger giants, he'll use a plethora of the smaller giants, those we don't readily recognize for what they are; distraction, busy-ness, jealousy, martyrdom, gluttony, simply getting off the path, when we lose sight of those very simple acts that help keep our focus on our right priorities. I love what our pastor said - "You know, simple things like reading the bible every day - yeah, yeah that sounds like a real "churchy" thing to do, right? Wrong, it's a life thing!" Starting out our day in God's word is not just a simple act or a religious practice, it is a powerful weapon in the battle against all our giants.
I, for one, had lost sight of that. I'd started to let the other things I read and enjoy more (if I'm being completely honest!) be my spiritual food for the day. Those are all good things, but they are not God's word, and above all else, I need to be reading and studying it.
So that little experiment I mentioned before? Yeah, that definitely will involve re-instituting some of the good habits I had maintained for a long time and had let "drift". Those good habits remind me to surrender daily and trust that His greatest strength is in my greatest weakness.
The battle against the giants is not mine, but His, and it has already ultimately been won.
I'm still interested in that women's Bible study 😉 talk about a good way to read and study the Bible.
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