"One of the greatest hindrances in coming to Jesus is the excuse of our own individual temperament and natural desires. Yet there is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself (see Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you--and His experiments always succeed." --Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest.
But the love of God is truly perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know we are in him. (1 John 2:5 CEB)Confession: These two were on my FB timeline this morning, as I scrolled through during that first hour of the morning, the hour when Jesus has told me is my best (and often only) chance to really get into the Word. {cringe}
And yet, still, my God is gentle. He entreats. He continues to whisper to me the things He has in store, and continues to make plain the calling He has planted in my heart. He sees my tendency, still extant, to want to self-flagellate when I fall short, but He literally reaches out, and with a gentle word stays my hand and encourages me onward. Lord God, thank You for being Who You Are. For not being a retributive and vengeful God in my life, but the Good Shepherd, the Lover of my soul, and One I can trust more than anything else, ever. Even as I have little people pulling on me as I try to type this, and larger people asking me questions and calling me away from this, and I try to just get these last few words out, I thank You for another day, and for the fact that, in this case and this calling, the hour of grace is not yet past.
