Godliness

 

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:7-9 ESV).

 

Should you talk with Mary, or the boys for that matter, you would find that I have a good deal of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) that often rears its head in the way I act. Most of the time I am able to distinguish when it has control of me, rather than the opposite and behave appropriately. For example, when Mary dusts the shelves and end tables in our house she is very thorough. She moves the things on them and dusts under them rather than swiping the cloth around them, as it should be. However, I notice that she has dusted because the things are not placed exactly as they were, rather than noticing because they are clean. She does get a bit of a laugh at my expense. In fact, I sometimes think she has purposefully moved them just to watch me squirm a bit with the urge to put them all back where they were.

 

When we think of “godliness,” which is the companion of contentment, we must think in terms of who we are and not what we do. It is not a behavior alone. It is the state of our trust in God. The quote on the meme I’ve attached says it very well: God is writing your story… Do you trust Him enough to let go of the pen? As I said in yesterday’s devotional, you cannot possess contentment until you trust God for your journey. Believe me, I understand very well what that means and how difficult it is to actually do. It means yielding control; and, that is a frightening thing in most instances. However, it is His story for us. He knows what is best and promises to make it good (cf. Romans 8:28).

 

Of course, this does not absolve us from the responsibility to make good choices. The consequences of sin in the life of a believer are often still destructive. What it does is give us the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to enjoy the ride, no matter how bumpy it may feel along some of those lonely, desolate stretches. Jonah is always my go to example. Remember, he had no choice about whether he would go to Ninevah; he only had a choice about how he would get there. I think it would have been better to travel by caravan, perhaps stopping along the way for a cool drink of water from an oasis and a handful of roasted dates. Instead he chose a three-day, all expense paid stint in the belly of a giant fish. Yuk! Godliness is letting go of the pen! That brings contentment!