No Easy Way Out

One morning not long ago I was reading Solomon's message to the people upon the completion of his Temple. He quoted Moses a long. In particular, what caught my eye and mind was his statement that the people would be conquered if they rebelled against God, and if their hearts returned to God, then their conquerers would treat them kindly.

What I noticed was what Solomon did not say. He didn't say that God would immediate free all the people from bondage if they returned to Him. Instead, Solomon said the people might still be in bondage, but that their conquerors' attitudes toward them would change.

I guess that means there is no quick fix to sin.

Momentous Day

For the last 38 years of my 58-year life, I have hated my mother. I have probably hated her for a longer time than that. She was a promiscuous drunk who destroyed everyone who got close to her: her husbands and her daughter...until I finally let Jesus pick me up.

Today, as I was reading Psalm 119, I remembered (God put into my mind?) a time when my mother really wanted God. She was hungry and she tried to come to the Lord. But she made a wrong turn, and while she remained hungry for God, she never figured out how to get to Him.

My heart softened toward her. I was so hungry for so long, but I did not know how to find Jesus. Then, in a flash, I suddenly realized that my God had let me forgive my mother, the woman I blamed for everything bad that ever happened to me, and even for evil I initiated.

This is the most important day of my life. This is by far the greatest gift our wonderous God has ever given me. I am finally free; truly free; free in Jesus; free in God.