Even though Leslie is moving into a spare bedroom, all of my things had
to be moved out of the closets and dresser drawers to make room for her things.
I suppose I could have asked her to live out of boxes for the next
three months, but the mannerly thing to do is to give her a place to put her
shoes, hang her clothes and brush her teeth.
When I consider the Spirit moving in and living in the heart of the
believer, I wonder if we’ve gotten rid of some of our stuff to make a place for
Him, or do we have Him living out of a suitcase.
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Early in my new life, unrighteousness bothered me. I attended what was glibly called an Holy Roller Church. A lot of kids did. And they were all talking about how holy God had made them since they gave their lives to Jesus. OK, that was cool. I could understand that somehow God made us righteous; the Bible says it. But when it expressed whose righteousness this really was, it never seemed to indicate it was mine. It was more pointedly Jesus’, and it was kind of on lone to me, or something.
-----The import was that I could never let go of the idea that I was not perfected in behavior and thought and that I should think very cautiously about my new righteousness. Self deceit begins at the pinnacle of consciousness. But neither did I eject the idea that God was improving me. The thought of being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to the next has been passed around my mind ever since I read it.
-----But I was not as careful about my behavior as I should have been. By my mid-twenties I was searching for answers to deep problems. I learned that all of the thoughts and ideas and feelings coursing through our souls are not homogenous, singular entities. Nor are the reasons and objects of our actions. They are each a subconscious intertwining of past mental activity. None are either completely wrong and false, or totally good and true. They sum into a mixture more of one or the other, but certainly comprised of both.
-----Since the whole of each were accumulated parts of me constructed from my past, and since God loved me enough to give me new life and begin a cleaning process in me, I thought it might behoove me to not blithely cast myself out. I thought it more appropriate to break my thoughts and feelings and ambitions and such into their components, as much as possible, straighten out the pieces which were twisted, and correct the mental processes of twisting as well as I could. Then shovel out the sorted dross.
-----So, it has always vexed me some that I do not ride with guns blazing into the heard of what I think bad about myself. Then, it rather seems I put up with my own evil. But my understanding always regarded a gold piece in a cow pie as something requiring patience, maybe requiring somewhat more than a penny there. It’s like I’ve coveted the Spirit’s company in sorting through my closets, so I didn’t empty them before He arrived.
-----“I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness. Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.” (Eccl 7:15-18)
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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