| | These are some of the things for which I have recently felt a change in my heart:
Thursday morning Bible study is of utmost importance. I am not sure why just yet, but the Lord has something to show me here. Often I leave this mid-week mens group frustrated at the lack of serious Biblical study....it often dilutes into a nonsense complaint of the woes of being in the workforce. My hope? That the serious and deep nature of the verse-by-verse study of the book of Hebrews (which we are starting tomorrow morning) will spur greater examples of Proverbs 27:17.
"Some things are not meant to be part of your life." I have never been a "drinker" in any sense of the word. Lately the last of my core group of friends went into the legal-to-consume-alcohol group and I have found myself exploring different types of beer and wine. This and my weekly poker night are not to be part of my life anymore. Why? I do not see a direct doctrine that says that I should not drink alcohol....rather I see the opposite in scripture (clairification: people drink wine in scripture...). Poker is a little less frequently debated, but at one time I convinced myself that the same was true for this social activity. I do not think that either of these constituted an idol in my life...but I think that they had the propensity. In fact, the only negative effect that I can see, as of yet, is that about half of the time Wednesday night poker interfered with Thursday morning Bible study. Nevertheless, I am convicted. I am sorry, poker friends, but I'll not be returning.
My pursuit of theology needs to become more active. I love discussing theology. I love reading about philosophies. But I have withdrawn myself from this love for the last year-ish. That time is over. It is time to find out exactly what I believe and study it and understand it and change my world view to fit accordingly. My love of theology is a gift, a talent, from God. Scripture says that burying it in the dirt is sin.
Reading shouldn't be limited to before bed. This afternoon I picked up a book and read two pages. For the rest of the night I was mulling over the words I had read. And powerful words they were; they challenged both my view of God and my understanding of evil. Conversely, for the last year I have read myself to sleep. I often wake up in the morning still thinking about the story that I fell asleep reading, still bound by its story. I need to force myself to read during my waking hours. I love it, its just that I often put other things above it. Sorry laptop though you help me write these words you will be getting less attention in my down time. Practically this means carrying a book around with me (something my mother has done for years  .) If my pursuit of theology is going to be more active I will need to be reading while still conscience.
Simplicity in life. So much of my life is surrounded by the frivolous. So much is unnecessary. I am going to try and slim it down a bit. I am not entirely sure what will be trimmed, though some of it is outlined here, in this writing. There is so much distraction and incomplete-ness in my life. I want to finish things of old and trim the things of new.
Prayer. Need I say more? About two weeks ago, John Piper told me that believing that I was unable to schedule myself to pray is a lie because I have scheduled my eating and using the restroom into my physical life for 23 years now. He said that I should treat prayer as "more important that eating and more important than sleeping" because it is. Forgetting to pray is putting my eternal life at risk. Forgetting to eat is putting my temporal life at risk. Which has greater consequences? Pray.
These are some of the things that my Lord has put on my heart very heavily. If you and I frequent a friendship then I ask that you would help keep me accountable. Some of these are new boundaries in my life, and, as with most good habits, they take some time to adjust. I'll need your help. If you are reading this then please say a prayer for me, right now, that the Lord would help me be successful in that which His will has called me.
EDIT: many of these are not discussed completely here...simply ask in person or shoot me an email if you wish to discuss further. I'd love to talk with you about any of these.
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| | Posted 4/23/2008 11:31 PM - 49 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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