February 28th, 2012

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Inferior

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

First off: this is not a post about feeling inferior.  So…relax!  I am not going onto that bridge with this post.

I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE ON MY MIND FOR NOW

As a warm-up preliminary to my post, please do me a favor and go read this very short post from a new blog friend.   I hope after doing so you will grasp where my title comes from.

In John 10:10 Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  Some of what Dan writes about can be wrapped up into those words from Jesus.  But there is more.  I recently began reading Detox by David Putman devotionally.   One of the things that David points out almost from the beginning is the cunning of our enemy.  I think we all tend to be aware of that aspect of him.  He is into counterfeiting what is real.  But it goes much deeper than just a smoke screen.  We have to come to the realization that His plans are much more involved than merely offering something fake.  He is in it for our ultimate and complete destruction.   Consider these words David wrote:

Satan doesn’t want us to live like Jesus or love like Jesus, and he certainly doesn’t want us to leave what Jesus left behind.  While Jesus came inviting us into His way in order that we might experience a full life,  Satan wants to limit and minimize our lives;  he often does this by introducing us to cheap substitutes like religion.  The substitute is that which ever so subtly nudges Jesus out of our lives.

As you have probably heard it said fairly often, we replace our relationship “with Jesus” with a religion “about Jesus.”  In my own life, I notice that it starts so innocently.  That little justification of “I don’t have time to journal/study/pray” becomes a disturbingly common habit.  Just two days ago, I said,  “I will read my devotions, but don’t have the time right now to pray or journal. I’ll get to it later.”  I even left my Moleskine journal with my Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch leather cover sit on my desk.  Man, I love the smell of that cover!  I love that it looks nice.  I even carried it on my emergency run to the hospital to visit someone (just in case I had some time).  Lo, and behold, I left it in the car.  But Tuesday morning, as I opened up my journal, I realized what I had done.  I even wrote about it.  My busy day had all but wiped out all my good intentions.   And every action was paved with good intentions.

The enemy offers us an inferior lifestyle.  An inferior outlook.  In  fact, everything he offers is inferior.  Let’s not get caught up in his inferiority.  Do you have any thoughts to share?  Have you found yourself settling for second best?

P.S.  HEY EVERYONE!  I AM WRITING THIS P.S. AT 7:30 AM.  I HAVE BEEN TO NUMEROUS BLOGS THIS MORNING AND HAVE TRIED TO COMMENT.  IT APPEARS FACEBOOK IS HAVING PROBLEMS.  IT WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ACTION.  SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF I AM UNABLE TO COMMENT ON YOUR SITE AT THIS TIME.  MAYBE THEY WILL GET IT FIXED.