Sunday, May 09, 2004

thoughts from yesterday's sermon and small group

God accepts us just as we are, however He does not want to leave us that way.

That is the "sound bite" from the sermon yesterday. Becca and I went to Faith Reformed Church in Zeeland. This is the church where we will be married in 32 days. I have really grown to love this church and its people.

I have known that God accepts us as we are, however I have never heard it said quite this way about His desires to transform our lives. It can be so easy for me to try and thwart the Lord's work by shutting Him out. I believe He allows me to do this at times. I feel like I am in control, however in reality I'm not. This is a difficult lesson to learn, but nonetheless an important lesson.

One other thought from small group on Friday night. Our small group is relatively new, but a real blessing to me when we get together. We are studying a video series put together by Nooma, a video production company part of Mars Hill Bible Church.

The video we watched on Friday night was called Noise. The message from the video related to the noise in our lives and how it can prevent us from hearing God's voice. I know in my life of late I have wanted to hear God's voice on a lot of issues but at times it seems like I'm not hearing from him (or not hearing when I want to hear from him). I think in some cases God is trying to teach me patience, however I believe it is possible that in other cases I am not being silent before Him and allowing Him to speak into myself. This relates to the control issue I wrote about earlier.

Am I staying busy, thus avoiding God's voice so I can stay in control of my life? Why do I feel I am in more control of my life during these times when in reality I am never in control of my life?

What do you think?

tmsaisti