Scripture

“The heart is more deceitful than anything. It is incurable—who can know it?

~Jeremiah 17:9, ISV

Quote

I can to some extend control my actions: I have no control over my temperament.

~C.S. Lewis

As we grow and mature in the faith, we become upset not only by the things we do, but our deepest grief is about what we are. We have all been put to the test time and time again and some of us keep failing. Our excuse is that our provocation was sudden and unexpected. When I left the office, I did not expect someone to cut me off in traffic and then shoot be a bird. So I responded with a flash of anger and a few choice words, “You idiot, it was your fault.” What I did was not deliberate or premeditated. It was something that caught me off guard. Its like the preacher playing golf, he hit a worm burner off the tee and then threw his club as far as he could send it and said to those playing with him, “This game is giving me a terrible temper.” He was wrong of course, the game was simply revealing the temper he already had. What these unexpected radom test reveal to us is that which is in the heart. There are rats in the cellar and these moral blowouts are the light that exposes them. If you want to see the rats in the cellar, you don’t announce your coming. You quietly open the cellar door and quickly flip on the lights, then you see the rats that were there all the time. If they hear you coming, you will not see them at all because they will hide.  If the LORD warmed us about the test coming, we might not see the rats.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like rats. No offense to Mickey and Minnie Mouse but I think rats are ugly and disgusting. I have all kinds of figurines in my office but not rats. The rat is not something I want to gaze upon. I sin but I don’t like sin. I think sin is ugly and disgusting but it is embedded in my nature. I am thankful that Jesus is willing and able to exterminate all the rats, but I would be doing Him no honor to deny their existence. Thomas Goodwin said, “The greatest of all miseries is the misery produced by sin.” I think he is right. Do you love misery? Neither do I. LORD save us from the rats.

Extra

A little more C.S. Lewis today. I think from Book IV, Chapter 6 of MERE CHRISTIANITY. Today is a visitation day and some C.S. Lewis tonight. Hopefully, no staining. I have stained until I am ready to abstain. I can’t wait to plan the DEDICATION SERVICE for our new fellowship hall. It could happen in July but my contractor refuses to give me any definite dates. I don’t know much, but I know we are getting close. Makes me want to speak a little Hebrew, “Hallelujah!”

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.

P.S. Pray for rain! They upped it to 50% over night! PTL, let it rain, let it pour and then rain some more!