Celebrate The Creator

Every Wednessday morning I do a discussion group at UCO (8am in the Nigh Bldg).  We've been going through the first chapter in Romans.  This morning we read and discussed Rm 1:17-23.  

Take time to celebrate God for making himself plainly known to you through the things he has made.  Take time to think about the eternal attributes of his power.  Outer space is being sustained by this power as much as the jumping spider in a city park.  If you were capable of making up a god in your own imagination, what would be more divine, eternal, mysterious and brilliant as the God who designed, created, and sustains the universe you live in, right now.

The goofball with the party hat in the picture is my youngest son Josiah.  At five months old Josiah lives in a world filled with wonder.  Josiah laughs and giggles as he explores the big things in life, like the rough beard hairs on my face compared to the soft touch of mom's cheeks.  He greets each new region of exploration with a timid nervousness because he knows that there is so much he doesn't know.  When we take Josiah outside he becomes tightly wound up in a rapid firing visual overload.  His neck snaps his head back and forth as he tries his best to understand what he is experiencing at that moment.  God has created a world of wonder for Josiah, so that Josiah can be certain that an eternal and divine being gave him life.

Learning To Like Correction

Nobody likes failure, but we all experience failure at different times in our lives. Think about a time in your life that you were really blowing it and somebody came in and spoke a word of correction. What was the source of the correction? Have you ever experienced dynamic transformation and change because someone was willing to speak that word of correction. The purpose of correction is to redirect us away from something that is wrong and toward something that is right.

We've all had lame experiences with people who have abandoned us because we were failing. I'm sure all of us can hear the hackling criticisms coming from an impatient bone head who is on their way out the door. Because of experiences like this we tend to condition ourselves to hide our failures from others. We don't want to experience rejection, abandonment, and hurtful words. A saint should never, ever, treat somebody this way. We did not learn this from Jesus. God has not dealt with us like this and demands that we express the same degree of mercy and forgiveness to others that we have received from Him.

It's really kind of crazy when I think about it. We might be playing it safe by hiding our failures from lame people, but we shoot ourselves in the foot by running away from correction. God and the saints (real saints as opposed to lame saints) are wired to forgive and redirect. In fact playing it safe by hiding and avoiding correction will ultimately result in a longer prison term in the solitary confinement of failure. Think about it this way. When we make our hearts hard and resist or hide from correction, God in turn is resisting us. When we allow our hearts to melt in humility and honesty, God pours out his grace upon us. In the Bible James addresses this issue very squarely, as is James' custom. There is no safer place to be than broken and humble when we are failing in our life. I want to be more pliable and open to correction. The older I get, the more tiring I feel even thinking about how long and hard the road to transformation can be when I'm proud and calloused. Being humble before God and friends is where it's at.