Archive for » December 19th, 2008«

My Will or His?

19 Dec 2008        By Laura

I found this blog entry at C J Mahaney’s blog. It raises some good questions that my flesh doesn’t want to answer.

At the beach retreat my prayer request was to find balance and not feel like I have to do everything. The woman praying for me shared this advice – turn all your priorities over to God and He will let you know which ones are important. I didn’t reveal this to all the women sitting in that room, but the very first thought that crossed my mind was that He might not want the same things I want to do. Which of course is why I wrote that prayer request. My real prayer request is to want the same things He wants, but as Tozer says in The Pursuit of God - “Father, I want to know thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding…”

Today I was reading the articles in the January Table Talk. In an article by Burk Parsons on resolutions I was struck by his comment that “while every Christian would respond by saying, ‘Well, of course we must depend on God for all things,’ most Christians have been sold the world’s bill of goods. They think that once they become dependent on God, then they will have immediate strength.” I hate resembling “most Christians” when mentioned in an article like this.

I know I struggle with real discipline. It’s easier to pray about something and then jump right back into action. The problem with getting by on my own strength when things are good is that I am so easily thrown off balance the minute things look a little shaky.  

Back to that blog entry by C J Mahaney. I want to be diligent, faithful, and fruitful. Right now I’m much better at being busy. The thought of praying for a more fruitful life fills me with excitement and dread. The excitement because that’s what I was made for. The dread because my flesh struggles to believe God and to trust Him. What if it hurts? What if it’s hard? What if it changes the comfortable life I have right now? … What am I missing by settling for what I have right now?

A later blog entry by C J Mahaney gets right to the point, our sin. I repent of my pride, my fear of others, my laziness, my pleasure-seeking, and my escapism. I’ve seen all of those just today. I must restructure my desk and my day so that it is much harder to skip the time alone with God each morning. Just committing to do it won’t work, I’ve tried that many times before.

From another blog entry in this series:

Let our confidence be uniform. In all thy ways acknowledge him (Proverbs 3:6). Take one step at a time, every step under divine warrant and direction. Ever plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without his counsel. 

He loves to be consulted. Therefore take all thy difficulties to be resolved by him. Be in the habit of going to him in the first place—before self-will, self-pleasing, self-wisdom, human friends, convenience, expediency. Before any of these have been consulted go to God at once. Consider no circumstances too clear to need his direction. 

In all thy ways, small as well as great; in all thy concerns, personal or relative, temporal or eternal, let him be supreme.
 
-Charles Bridges (1794–1869), from A Commentary on Proverbs (Banner of Truth, 1846/1968) pp. 24–25.

C J Mahaney gives some steps in yet another blog entry (his are much shorter and more manageable than mine, obviously).

Define my God-given roles. I base this on where has God placed me and where am I positioned to serve others?

  1. Christian
  2. wife
  3. aunt, daughter, sister, friend
  4. employee

Then I should determine specific, theologically informed goals.

Then I can transfer these goals into my schedule. More likely, I can weed out the time-fillers and time-wasters that are keeping me away from my goals right now. Those are the toys that I am afraid will hurt to let go of.

 

All of the C J Mahaney articles in order:

Are You Busy?

Confessions of a Busy Procrastinator

The Procrastinator Within

Just Do It

In All Thy Ways

The Sluggard

Time Redeemed

Roles, Goals, Scheduling

Roles (Part 1)

Roles (Part 2)

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Category: Prayer  2 Comments

A Christmas Carol

19 Dec 2008        By Laura

You can read it online here.

You can find the starter questions at 5MinutesforBooks

The Link to other reviews can be found here:

 

It has been years since I’ve read this story. I havee seen a few versions of the movie since then. The description of the cold is so well done that I can see and feel it (the heat’s running here which is a blessing). I thought the nephew’s description of Christmas was worth noting.

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,” returned the nephew.  “Christmas among the rest.  But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round — apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that — as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.  And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”

I have always loved the way Scrooge excused away the spector of Marley in spite of what he sees:

“Why do you doubt your senses?”

“Because,” said Scrooge, “a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats.  You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.  There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”

Marley and the description of the spirits Scrooge sees as Marley is leaving do a great job of explaining our purpose and why anything less than that is a failure.

The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.

The second section is so sad, to see how Scrooge was and how he changed and lost so much as he became the man he is now, seeking Gain at the expense of everything else.

Christmas Present appears in section 3. Scrooge’s attitude has changed and he’s teachable now. He sees Bob Cratchit’s family and has a chance to see what they think of him. He sees people all over who celebrate Christmas, no matter how poor or how far from home. Then he goes to his nephew’s and gets caught up in the fun and laughter of the party. As the time ends he meets Want and Ignorance.

Section 4 is about the Ghost of Christas Yet To Come. I haven’t read the story in a long time and haven’t even seen a movie version in a number of years. But I remember Scrooge being more stubborn. I prefer this version, teachable and desiring to change.

“Ghost of the Future!” he exclaimed, “I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?

We see that Tiny Tim dies and Scrooge learns that when he dies no one mourns him and those whose debt he holds rejoice at his death.

In stave 5 he wakes up in his own bed. I have always loved this part and my best memories of the movie versions are how they portray this changed man with a second chance at life. 

Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh.  The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs.

It took me two weeks to make it all the way through this short story, but I’m glad I read it again. It is a wonderful way to learn and encourage the Christmas spirit.

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Category: Reading  One Comment