Skip to main content

Everything We Need

 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (II Peter 1:3) 

Last Wednesday’s word was “stealth,” and I used it to describe the manner in which little bits of bad attitude, all dressed in fun fur and looking harmless, were creeping in, popping up, and otherwise be stealthy in their approach.[1] One of the more effective bits of mood muppetry involves a rather typical before breakfast prayer for wisdom, strength, courage and all other things that I’m sure I’ll need by the time I eat breakfast.

I tend to prefer not to say, “And God said,” but if He didn’t, then some part of my mind that He has managed to educate did. The question of just how much courage, wisdom, and strength I needed to eat breakfast, walk the dog, and write a blog post. Really. Do I lack sufficient wisdom, strength, and courage to handle what life throws at me today?

Now, yes, this is a way for me to connect with God first thing in the morning, a method of turning the key in the ignition to get my engine running. Yes, it’s certainly better to confess that as a fallen human, I’m likely to need each of those at some point, and praying for them in advance isn’t a bad thing. But what God or my God-trained mind asked was along the lines of, “Who told you that you don’t have enough wisdom, strength, or courage? How much wisdom, strength, and courage do you really need?”

And the answer from the fallen side of me follows Oliver to the headmaster’s table, holds up a bowl and says, “Please, sir, I want some more.” No a good part of that fallen side leans forward from my flowerpot and says, “Feed me, Seymour.”

I find myself, once again, facing an old foe… “Not Good Enough.” God has promised that He’s already provided all I need for live and godliness, but that’s not good enough. I need to feel strong, courageous, wise, etc. It’s not good enough because I’m not as wise, strong, or courageous as …pick your superlative example, but the key is that it must be superlative. It’s not about having enough courage; it’s about having more than enough, more than the next guy…. In other words, it’s not about God meeting my needs, it’s not about faith, it’s not even really about courage, wisdom, and strength; it’s about greed.

Ouch. But a diagnosis is the first step to a cure.


[1] In case you haven’t guessed, this was written on Wednesday, the same day that “stealth” was my word. I’m trying to get ahead to make traveling less stressful. I may yet obsess on these images, but since they’re helpful, that’s OK.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more