Except
I'm not really sure I like that name. In my daydreams, my assistant (or
lady-in-waiting, if I'm reading something Austen-esque or Elizabethan) has a
name like Ella or Cressida, and she usually has an English accent. Someone like
Alfred in Batman Begins might
be nice too. Is there an app for that? Can I personalize my personal assistant?
In a
culture where choices abound, I delight in tinkering with things to suit my
mood, schedule, or tastes. I love my sleep number bed. I will happily wait for
a special order at a fast food restaurant. I am still working on getting my mii
just right, and but for the wonders of DVR, I'd never watch television. I
suspect you can relate. I can't prove it, but I think it all began with
Burger King in the 1970s. We have become a "have-it-your-way"
society.
I don't
think there's anything inherently wrong with exercising the options that are
available to us. However, in today's customization culture, we do have to guard
against the temptation to take an individualized approach to scripture,
disregarding or twisting God's word to suit ourselves. I have been guilty of
doing so countless times.
"Wives,
submit to your husbands," is straight-forward enough, but that hasn't
prevented me from questioning it. I mean, it was written a long, long
time ago, and frankly, sometimes my husband is unreasonable (i.e. he refuses to
see things my way). Does the command to love one another include people who
insist on being annoying or difficult? And I know that "the LORD detests
lying lips," but surely "little white lies" told for the sake of
convenience are harmless enough.
The
problem with this type of thinking is it's self-focused, not God-focused. We're
called to follow after the King of Kings, and that means we can't change
scripture to suit our opinions, objectives, or as a matter of convenience. We
must simply submit ourselves to God's word, and ask Him to change us.
When
have you been tempted to "have-it-your-way" instead of God's way?
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to
put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be
made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to
be like God in true righteousness." -Ephesians 4:22-24
Uhm, convicting. It's easy for me to plan my life, my way. And to think that I know what's best- that I know what will satisfy me most and what will make me happiest. But, that's not really the case. I have to go back to God and He says He has plans to prosper me, and not to harm me, to give me hope, and a future... My life should not be about making much of me, but of allowing Christ to make much of Himself through me. Thanks for the reminder! (And ps: great title!)
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