“When they
threw God’s claim off their lives…they were not free. No one is ever free when that happens. They had now become slaves to their impulses
and slave to their drive. They were slaves to their greed...”
Discipline = freedom. This famous Sonshine phrase kept running
through my mind as I listened to this part of the sermon. How dangerous it is when we (read I), like
the people of Sodom, want things done our way, right now, no excuses. This is
not freedom, this is jail! When I have
become slave to my own drive, desires, and the biggie…expectations, I have
limited my grace to others and closed my ears to the reality and voice of
God. If I have the discipline to wait, discern,
listen, and pay attention, I am suddenly free and open to God’s plan, I absorb
God’s grace to give to others, and I have gained the ability to let things go.
The other
day I was reading about and reflecting upon my own classroom management system
when I read this quote from a research study:
“Consistently
enforced limits, make children feel safe and secure. Clear limits, actually make a child feel
happier and safer.” Finally, hearing the
word “no” rescues children from the “tyranny of their own desires.”
“The tyranny
of their own desires.” This phrase ties
in SO well to what was happening in Sodom and what happens in my own life. Lord, thank you for rescuing me, time and
again, from the tyranny of my own desires!!
Discipline = Freedom!
“What human
beings do matters to God…The greatest anger of all is when God is no longer
angry when we sin….When God is no longer angry when we sin it means he has
gotten complacent and doesn’t care. The
God who stands before Abraham takes Himself and us seriously.”
Thank you for
caring, Lord! Thank you that you abhor
sin! Thank you that you set limits for us and tell us “no” because you care for
us and love us. Thank you for saving us
from our own desires. Thank you for
loving justice!
“The Holy
One takes time to thoroughly investigate a situation before acting…God’s
judgments are well-weighed and perfectly informed.”
This
statement brought me relief. I know that
the judge of all the Earth will do right.
I can rest in that.
The One took the place of the many” “The cross of Jesus Christ is both God’s
relentless love for sinners and God’s relentless hatred of sin...The cross is
simultaneously God’s mercy and God’s judgment.”
AMEN!! This
statement and truth is so massive, it is truly hard to wrap my head around it. I don’t know if I will ever fully comprehend
the magnitude of this meeting and colossal crash of mercy and judgment in the
greatest act of love the world has ever known.
Here is our King
Here is our love
Here is our God who's come
To bring us back to Him
He is the One
He is Jesus
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