Can You See What's Wrong and How Will You Fix It?

Being a man I have learned one thing about myself, and that is that I am a very stubborn person.  I can't tell you how many times I've gone to try and fix something, and tried to do it the wrong way. There'll be times where it seems like my life freeze frames. I'll be in the store looking at something in deep down and in my gut I just know that the part I have in my hand will not fix what I need to fix. But do I listen to my gut? No I buy the piece anyway, take it home, I unwrap it and try to put it to use and with no surprise it doesn't work. Then I get the great opportunity to exercise my patience and not get upset, use a bunch of cursewords because I am very frustrated. In reflection I could only imagine how much smoother my life would be if I would just listen to my gut more often. Here in America we live in a culture where everything is instant access. It's my belief anymore that we are so wrapped up in our instant access culture that we by and large lost our ability to exercise patience. Consequently we put ourselves in situations that are rather challenging to say the least. 

That "gut" that I have is a gift from God. Not only that but God doesn't like rushing, in fact truth be told, God really likes you to take your time. There are very few things in the Bible that happen in an instant. Sure there were those people that Jesus healed in what seemed like a snap of the finger, but so much happened over a long period of time. When things completely got out of whack, and he decided to start over, God had it rain for 40 days and 40 nights. When God decided to free the Israelites he had them journey for 40 years on a trip that really only had to take a couple of weeks. When Jesus raised his best friend Lazarus from the dead, he didn't go immediately when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he waited till the guy had been dead for four days. Fact is God wants you to move slowly and purposefully through this life. Quick and hasty is the way of the sinful person. As I move through my days anymore I am constantly trying to slow myself down. I work very hard to examine everything that's going on around me. I pause and reflect and I ask for God's guidance often. If you take your time the good things in this world are very apparent. Sure the wrong way might look cool and flashy but beneath the sheen of excitement is a rotten core and can be seen if you examine it closely. 

MT 7:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing,
but underneath are ravenous wolves.
By their fruits you will know them.
Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Just so, every good tree bears good fruit,
and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down
and thrown into the fire.
So by their fruits you will know them.”

Let's face it though we're all human, we all make mistakes. Sometimes we get off course, whether it happens slowly overtime, or just because we've never been taught the right way from the beginning. Fact is God loves you and he wants to help you be the best you can be. He's not that old hippie dude hanging out on the sidelines saying, "Yeah man do whatever you want it's cool." He's that coach yelling from the sidelines encouraging you on when you want to give up. God wants to be the guy in the locker room at halftime building you up so that you can go out and conquer your adversities. God wants to train with you every day, holding the towel for when you need to wipe your brow, holding the bottle of water for when you need to rehydrate and to be the person to say "when" so you don't push yourself to hard. 

Why? Because God loves you.

If you don't have a strong relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit I invite you to pause this moment. Pause and pray to him. You don't have to use fancy words just speak from your heart. Tell him that you want a relationship with him. Tell him what you need help with. Just open up, speak from the heart and let go. God loves you he's waiting for you right now. 

Next I would highly recommend spending time with his word. The Bible can be a little daunting, my recommendation would be to start in the New Testament. Start with the Gospels the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These books are easy to digest and are very straightforward. 

Thirdly I would recommend that you find a spiritual mentor. You need to find someone that you can speak to face-to-face. I would highly recommend finding a church and start attending services or mass. I know this can be intimidating, but the fact of the matter is is if you want to really develop a closer relationship with God, not only do you need to pray and read your Bible but you also need the community to help you as well. When you start on this journey you're going to be faced with a lot of temptation. You are going to be tempted to quit hard-core. Satan's gonna throw everything he's got at you. Satan will show you the inconveniences of praying, reading the Bible and going to church. The more determined you are the bigger the temptations he'll throw at you. This is where being a member of a church and having a group of new friends who are also Christian come in handy. Your won't necessarily have to get rid of your old friends, but you may choose to because they may try to talk you out of your new lifestyle. For me, all my old friends fell away rather quickly when I adjusted my life and focused on God. I wasn't really given a choice. 

Basically what this all comes down to is realizing that God's way is the true way. It's about realizing that God's way is not just a bunch of rules and regulations, but is actually about living a life of love, feeling loved and spreading love through the world. 

But you have to make the choice, otherwise your life will just be more of the same old, same old. 

2 KGS 22:8-13; 23:1-3

The high priest Hilkiah informed the scribe Shaphan,
“I have found the book of the law in the temple of the LORD.”
Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it.
Then the scribe Shaphan went to the king and reported,
“Your servants have smelted down the metals available in the temple
and have consigned them to the master workmen
in the temple of the LORD.”
The scribe Shaphan also informed the king
that the priest Hilkiah had given him a book,
and then read it aloud to the king.
When the king heard the contents of the book of the law,
he tore his garments and issued this command to Hilkiah the priest,
Ahikam, son of Shaphan,
Achbor, son of Micaiah, the scribe Shaphan,
and the king’s servant Asaiah:
“Go, consult the LORD for me, for the people, for all Judah,
about the stipulations of this book that has been found,
for the anger of the LORD has been set furiously ablaze against us,
because our fathers did not obey the stipulations of this book,
nor fulfill our written obligations.”

The king then had all the elders of Judah
and of Jerusalem summoned together before him.
The king went up to the temple of the LORD with all the men of Judah
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
priests, prophets, and all the people, small and great.
He had the entire contents of the book of the covenant
that had been found in the temple of the LORD, read out to them.
Standing by the column, the king made a covenant before the LORD
that they would follow him
and observe his ordinances, statutes and decrees
with their whole hearts and souls,
thus reviving the terms of the covenant
which were written in this book.
And all the people stood as participants in the covenant.