Even S'more

You ever make a mistake that turns out to be a really good thing?  I did this morning.  This year I am using the evening Psalms and Lessons from the old version of the Book of Common Prayer.  Each day there are two sections, morning and evening.  Each section has a Psalm or several, a reading or few from the Old Testament, and then some from the New Testament.  Part of the Old Testament today was from Habakkuk which I abbreviated HB in my journal.  Problem is when it came time to read it I read that as Hebrews.  When the reading wasn't a clear paragraph I should have realized I made a mistake but no, I plowed through and I am glad I did.

Look at Hebrews 2:1 then look at Luke 12:35 - 40.  For the last couple of days (here and here) I have been suggesting that a lot of believers rather than fully engaging in their walk with Christ are following Him at a distance.  You know just to see how things are going to work out, before they really commit; or to make sure that their family, business, etc. is on a solid footing before diving in headfirst.  We do enough for those who pay attention to identify us as probable believers, but we are on the fringe.

Those two verses, Hebrews 2:1 and Luke 12:35 - 40 conspire to suggest that may not be the best strategy.  Over breakfast and lunch I was talking to my dad about this and in the course of that conversation I shared a quote I pulled from Howard Tillman Kuist’s book These Words Upon Thy Heart (the book was recommended by prof, it took me 40 years to find a copy – it was worth the search).

“Every man is faced with the peril of rationalizing his quest for spiritual illumination…when confronted by a choice he is tempted to make it on a level which will be the least possible cost to himself, or in line with his own self interest.”

I think he nailed it and that quote sums up succinctly the theme of these last three posts.