THANKFUL

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Good morning, Jesus.

Thank you, Lord, that when we need correcting, you don’t back off. As the congregation raised praises Sunday morning in song, I remember one song that didn’t move me spiritually nor emotionally. I just don’t like this song, I thought. It’s too slow. The words, even though taken from Scripture, are difficult to follow. The melody is uneven, and it’s boring. I prefer something upbeat, fast paced, where my hands automatically clap and maybe my feet do a little shuffle. Let’s hear more drums, guitars, and turn the keyboard loose. This song does nothing for me. That’s when I heard you speaking to my inner man loud and clear.

“Excuse me,” the Lord said. “Since when is the praise and worship service about you? I wrote the words of that slow, boring song. They are singing my praises and glorifying who I am.”

How could I argue with the Lord? I felt a spiritual spanking coming on.

He wasn’t finished. “Let me ask you: did you speak and the heavens and everything in the universe come into existence? Forgive me for not consulting you when I spoke and created the earth and everything in it. Do you have leftover dirt under your fingernails when you created man from the dust of the ground? I don’t recall the last time you healed a blind man, or caused a man, crippled from birth, to leap, joyfully dancing before you?”

Lord Jesus what you said next put me in my place.

“Did you send your only son in to this broken world to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. I did. Your sins were included in that batch, and because you believed, now you have eternal life.”

Lord God, I’m such a flawed but forgiven work in progress. Forgive me for being self-centered, forgetting how you saved me from eternal destruction and gave me a new lease in life. May my actions reflect who you are and let everything in this life be about you, Lord God. I’m thankful your corrections are always true, without condemnation.

It’s all about you, Lord Jesus. Amen.