Learning so much from My Utmost For His Highest again. If you wanna see more thoughts about this, look at my post titled “Oswald”, a few posts down.
"We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational."
Have you ever thought about how sin “upsets all of our thinking and our plans”? For example, my own pride and vanity makes me selfish at times. Selfishness, thinking of myself, makes me worry about MY life. Worry in turn leads me to make bad decisions sometimes just to make sure I feel good in life….it’s like a cycle, stupid cycle, that usually takes place until I finally come to God and cry out for mercy and rid myself of these. Then, He puts me back on track, but only AFTER I come completely broken. Too bad, I think about myself so much, that it usually takes longer than it should to get to this point!
"The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin."
Wouldn’t it be a scary world if no one recognized sin in their life?
"We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be."
Wow. I have been foolish (in many ways, but definitely in this area) How hard to not say “it should not be.”
"Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience."
I have seen shallowness a lot lately. Isn’t this sad? Success= pride. Monotony of daily living= complaining. We are never happy! It takes sorrow to get my attention A LOT. I’m REdiculous.
"If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people."
I love people. I love to talk to people one-on-one and really learn what they’re all about. Encouragement and support has gotten me through much of life. I want to be that to others. After all, after The Word of God, what is the only lasting thing on this earth…the souls of everyone I interact with.
"". . . in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors . . ." ( 2 Corinthians 6:5 )— in all these things, display in your life a drawing on the grace of God, which will show evidence to yourself and to others that you are a miracle of His. Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace"
Now. I love every part of this paragraph.
"There must be unflinching faithfulness to the Word of God, but when you come to personal dealings with others, remember who you are— you are not some special being created in heaven, but a sinner saved by grace."
Sinner. Saved!
"Have you suddenly reached a certain place in your relationship with someone, only to find that you have anger in your heart? Confess it quickly— make it right before God. Be reconciled to that person— do it now!"
Again. Now! I have always had a harder time when things are not right in a relationship or friendship. I always want to fix the problem, and if it doesn't get fixed, it's hard on me, again it has to do with the fact that people’s souls are the only thing that lasts. You are important.
"There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment."
Heaven=PERFECT. :-)
**Leslie**
