Put God First

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke
(BrainyQuote)

The word of the day, from the Oxford English Dictionary, is peccable. I guess it makes sense that this word exists, but I didn’t really know it. It means, “Capable of sinning; liable to sin. Fallible, imperfect, flawed.” The opposite of impeccable.

Today is Bikini Day, because it is the anniversary of the invention of the bikini in 1946, by French fashion designer, Louis Reard. Pretty racy for 1946, eh?

We had a nice day, yesterday. R & J arrived somewhere between noon and 1:00 PM. We had our late lunch of steak and baked potatoes, which C did a marvelous job of cooking, and then sat around and talked for a few hours (the baseball game between the Rangers and Red Sox was on the TV with no sound) before I took Mama home. We had a nice trip over there and my trip back was smooth and uneventful. C & I watched a couple episodes of Criminal Minds and one episode of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and then went to bed.

Today is Tuesday that feels like Monday. Back to work for us, but at least it will be a short week.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL

(From Praying With the Psalms)

Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:11-12

Each moment of our lives is a moment that counts, not toward us making some kind of mark or proving our worth, “but in the sense that all time is material that God uses to love us, guide us, correct us, and redeem us.”

“‘Day by day, dear Lord, of thee three things I pray: to see Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly, follow Thee more nearly, day by day’ (Richard of Chichester). Amen.”

(From My Utmost For His Highest)

Don’t Calculate without God

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. Psalm 37:5

“God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the things we have calculated on without taking Him into account.” How often does this happen to us? We get into circumstances and suddenly, we realize that we have not considered God in our actions. We would not worry nearly as much if we considered God in our plans.

I have been in church planning meetings where this happens! God has not given us an immediate thing to do, so we believe we have to make something up, rather than simply waiting to see what God would do within us.

We also cannot make plans around what we perceive as the evil. “Love is not ignorant of the existence of the evil, but it does not take it in as a calculating factor.” In other words, we cannot play the “what if” game in making plans, if we are considering God first.

Finally, there is no planning for a “rainy day” when we are trusting Jesus. He told us, “Let not your heart be troubled.” This is a command for us to do something; God will not keep our hearts from being troubled. It is something we must do. We must practice the spiritual disciplines until we are putting God first in all of our plans.

Father, I do need your help with this. I realize that it is something I must do, as are all of the spiritual disciplines. These are things that you have given us that we have to do. I cannot sit and wait for you to change me; rather, I must practice and train until the habits are formed. Help me to do so, and to put you first in all of my considerations.

Come, Lord Jesus!

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Grace and peace, friends.