I just finished reading Craig Groeschel's it and I am convicted. I hate to admit this, but I lost my focus. Doing ministry has made me lose sight of pursuing God. I have focused so much on reading books, dowloading podcasts, reading blogs and Twittering with others that my spiritual life is not where it should be. And God, I'm sorry for that.
This changes now. Nothing is more important than my #1 – God. He is what I live for, and I'm sorry for losing sight of that. God, without you, there is no point in doing ministry. If it's not about You, then it's pointless. Lord, You have revealed Yourself to me many times over the last few months, and I've misinterpreted the why. I thought you were confirming the path I was on, but that's not why.
You were calling me back to You, calling me to refocus on You.
I'm sorry I was so dense. I'm sorry I was distracted.
I'm sorry for not burning for You with the passion I had before.
Please, reignite the fire. Consume me. Help me stay focused on you. Draw me closer to Yourself and heal me.
Well, last night I submitted my 3 part final for my class. The class covered four of Lewis' works: The Screwtape Letters, Great Divorce, Problem of Pain, and The Four Loves. These four books showed the various styles that Lewis used and I really enjoyed taking the class. It's the first online class that I have taken where I actually learned something. I am happy to say that I passed the class with a 98%! That helps keep me motivated and looking forward to being done by the end of next year.
In my Christian Worldview class, we are currently reading Habits of the Mind by James W. Sire, and the subtitle is “Intellectual Life as a Christian Calling.” Today at CRIBS we discussed the elephant in the room that is politics in the church, and I feel that we had a good discussion. At the end of the discussion, the adult leaders all made the same point that we are called to life of intelligence. We are called to always learn so that we aren’t caught unawares by whatever is happening around us. We have to make informed decisions in everything we do, and we have to have the ability to back up our decisions with sound reasoning and logic. We also have to be able to discuss things in a loving and peaceful manner. And that is the hardest thing we are called to do. Too often we let emotions take control and we says things that we shouldn’t, or we act in a manner that is incongruent with how we are called to act. Even though it’s hard, we should never forget to put God first. By putting our hearts after His, we can be confident in His ability to use us as He will. We’ll act in a way that honors and glorifies Him, and we’ll be able to match our words to our actions.
