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What Does God Sound Like?
An Excerpt from Speak, My Soul If we are to hear our own soul speak, we Read More
Mark Twain quipped, “Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” One thing that makes Mark Twain’s writing classic and relevant is his audacity to express what many have felt. But he says it in such a way that we laugh at ourselves.
At the same time, his quip above is serious business. Take for example the times we want to hit something or someone because of what life has thrown at us. When we hear the condemning judgment of cancer pronounced over us or a loved one. When one financial blow after another persistently takes out every support beam we cling to. When tempers flare and relationships are destroyed over a simple misunderstanding.
In times like these, I hear Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 5 return to me and force me to get in line with them. I say force because a part of me is saying, “I don’t want to go through this again. I’m tired.” I bristle over the interruptions. I want to be doing something else. I have plans and goals that are not making progress. Then I remember my biggest goal. I want to change so I am more like my master—Jesus. And like in the movie Karate Kid, these wax on/wax off moments are training me:
It is easy to put on a good front and deceive self and others that all is fine. One might be highly successful with it and can help others do the same. But it is not the spreading on of the wax that creates the shine. Spreading the wax is easy, too. Rubbing it off (applying the Word and allowing it to change us from the inside out) is the real work. Only then do we shine in the sight of the Lord first and then to those around us.