Lately God has been reminding me that to be a follower of Christ means living righteously before his eyes. At the Christian basics class on Sunday we talked about sin and salvation. Is there such a thing as sinning a greater sin than other sins? Many of us tell white lies, for one reason or another. And almost 100% of the time, it's considered harmless. I feel as it through scripture, conversations, sermons, God is asking me to watch that my every action, every thought, every word, is to be holy and acceptable in his eyes.
I used to think that if I did something and wasn't hurting anybody, it wouldn't be a big deal, even though it may not be 'right'. A few examples would be not putting money in the meter when you know nobody is going to check, lending someone my UPass, or making up an excuse when you don't feel like helping out a friend. Yet with the spirit's presence in my heart even these little actions, which seem so innocent on the surface, are hard to carry out.
This morning I got a call from a girlfriend who is getting married this weekend. She said her and her fiancee were in a bit of a panic and asked if I could help with putting together wedding favours and invitations. I had hoped to meet up with my professor today but I hadn't been able to get a hold of him yet. I told her I would call my professor and if he's not around I will go over to help. On the inside I didn't really want to break my plans to come to do school and do work but I also wanted to help her out as I understand how stressful wedding planning can be. Furthermore, I am suffering from a sore wrist after having inputted 100 or so contacts into my new cell phone. Doing anything manual would probably agitate the condition. After a while I still hadn't heard from my prof so I told my girlfriend I could probably come. Yet, I remembered my wrist and how I didn't want to further agitate it more. So I called her and told her about my wrist and that I should probably give it a rest. But, before my call I had been tempted to make up another excuse, or simply tell her I had heard back from my prof (I didn't want her to think I was some sort of wimp, refusing to help out due to something small...). But, I wanted to be truthful. And almost instantaneously after I hung up with the phone with her, I got an email from my prof saying that yes, he was in and yes, we could meet today!
I'm not sure if you really followed that story, which I'm sure could have been told a lot better and more concisely (I tend to go on and on and be on the wordy side of things). But the bottom line is, I felt that God was pleased by the fact that I decided to tell the truth when I could've easily not. And he honoured me by allowing me to meet with my professor today. I headed to the busy stop, joyful knowing that I had pleased God. In was in a little way, but I remember Mother Teresa's saying that the Lord likes small things best. God wishes for us to be faithful, and righteous, even in the littlest things in our lives, even in doing the things that nobody will ever know of, or things we do that won't 'hurt' anyone. I know that on my own I will fall into temptation and sin. But with God inside my heart, I will be kept from harm :)
I used to think that if I did something and wasn't hurting anybody, it wouldn't be a big deal, even though it may not be 'right'. A few examples would be not putting money in the meter when you know nobody is going to check, lending someone my UPass, or making up an excuse when you don't feel like helping out a friend. Yet with the spirit's presence in my heart even these little actions, which seem so innocent on the surface, are hard to carry out.
This morning I got a call from a girlfriend who is getting married this weekend. She said her and her fiancee were in a bit of a panic and asked if I could help with putting together wedding favours and invitations. I had hoped to meet up with my professor today but I hadn't been able to get a hold of him yet. I told her I would call my professor and if he's not around I will go over to help. On the inside I didn't really want to break my plans to come to do school and do work but I also wanted to help her out as I understand how stressful wedding planning can be. Furthermore, I am suffering from a sore wrist after having inputted 100 or so contacts into my new cell phone. Doing anything manual would probably agitate the condition. After a while I still hadn't heard from my prof so I told my girlfriend I could probably come. Yet, I remembered my wrist and how I didn't want to further agitate it more. So I called her and told her about my wrist and that I should probably give it a rest. But, before my call I had been tempted to make up another excuse, or simply tell her I had heard back from my prof (I didn't want her to think I was some sort of wimp, refusing to help out due to something small...). But, I wanted to be truthful. And almost instantaneously after I hung up with the phone with her, I got an email from my prof saying that yes, he was in and yes, we could meet today!
I'm not sure if you really followed that story, which I'm sure could have been told a lot better and more concisely (I tend to go on and on and be on the wordy side of things). But the bottom line is, I felt that God was pleased by the fact that I decided to tell the truth when I could've easily not. And he honoured me by allowing me to meet with my professor today. I headed to the busy stop, joyful knowing that I had pleased God. In was in a little way, but I remember Mother Teresa's saying that the Lord likes small things best. God wishes for us to be faithful, and righteous, even in the littlest things in our lives, even in doing the things that nobody will ever know of, or things we do that won't 'hurt' anyone. I know that on my own I will fall into temptation and sin. But with God inside my heart, I will be kept from harm :)
No comments:
Post a Comment