Judges

In church we are going through the book of Judges.  This has been an interesting study so far.  I find myself struggling with my life and wondering how in the world will I ever make it to Heaven and then I realize, that if I depend upon the world, I never will make it.  Thus the point of the book of Judges.

It is the world, worldly things that keep us separated from God.  It is our tolerance of things from this world that keep us separated from God.  I was reviewing my notes from the last two Sundays.  The words rip at me and cause great distress. 

• God's loving hatred towards sin.
• Should love God above all else
• Those distractions are sins (TV, phone apps) - Anything that takes the place of God and time I would spend with God.
• What distracts us? - Social media, sports, TV, our job
• There are 168 hours from Sunday to Sunday.
• Worship is not a Sunday morning thing.  This is a lifestyle!
• All of it can be worship.
• Discipline is a form of love
• There is a chasm of difference between regret & repentance.
• Be forgettable so that God memorable through you.
• God is in the business of using messed up people
• National sin - sin starts inside of ourselves.  We sit in silence, stand with lack of action.  Sinning in silence.

All of this just tears at my soul.  I recently resigned from my job because I felt that it was keeping me from my family, but that was not all it was keeping me from.  I struggle with how am I going to change.  How am I going to capitalize on this to make a difference for God.  What does he want from me?  How is he going to use me?  What's next?

Pastor Todd spoke again today about the sin cycle:  Disobedience, Discipline, Dependence, Deliverance.  The idea of Dependence is really where I am hung up.  Pastor Todd says that there is a difference between Dependence and Repentance.  In Judges, the Israelites cried out to God and depended upon him once again and he delivered them from their oppressors.  However, they did not actually repent of their sin and it was their lack of repentance that continued them down the path to repeat the cycle of disobedience and discipline.

I do not want to be caught in that cycle.  I do not want to be stuck in dependence mode but want full repentance.  I want to turn my back to the world and to lean upon Him for my grace and salvation.  I really have a long way to go and time is short.