Ouch. The beatitudes are always hard to read. If I ever think I am getting it right, all I need to do is go and read Matthew 5. It’s not the description of sin that is most convicting to me. I already know that I am a sinner. It’s this line that gets me every time:
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. (NIV)
Sometimes I think that I love God and not the world, or that I am done with the process of dying to myself to make room for the Holy Spirit to work in me. All it takes is those two sentences to set me straight. I know that I could not do this thing that Jesus commands, although it is for my own good. I could not cut off my hand or gouge out my eye, nor could I give up some of the comforts of my life, even knowing that I would be eternally better off without them.
Just one example- I love my house, although I know there is sin in the way I spend hours of my time and too much of my money making it clean and shiny and well-adorned – especially when company is coming, and especially if I know that the guests’ house is better looking than mine. I know all this, and yet I continue to do it. Why don’t I give it up? My life would be less busy and less stressed if I did. Do I believe that my friends’ potential judgment of me and my home-making skills is more important than God’s judgment of my stewardship? Actions speak louder than words, I suppose.
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Matthew 4-5
Posted by Mama at 6:15 AM
Labels: confessions, Matthew
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1 comments:
In "A Woman After God's Own Heart" Elizabeth George spends a great deal of time discussing that spending time making your home beautiful is actually an act of worship to the Lord. Having a beautiful place that you have created (because lets face it, even the most beautiful house can be hideous if it's not filled with beautiful things) is a way of serving your family, and when you invite people into your home and it's clean and welcoming, that's a way of serving your guests. She uses Scripture to back it up, and I'll bring it over for you some time. Love you!
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