2 Corinthians 4:16
16. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

The weather changed, I knew it was going to because my ankle told me so. It didn’t used to be like this – I could run like crazy; loved to run. Now I run like a horse that’s been hobbled. But, that’s my physical body – thinning hair, Santa belly and all. As I spend time, more time, with the Lord, I’m amazed at the work he does on my inside. I’ve missed it, my morning time with Him. No job is worth it.

Luke 6:37-38
37. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

It’s amazing how we make judgements and aren’t to judge. “Does this fall in line with what God is telling us is right?” is a judgement. We need to discern what is right and wrong without judging what God would like us to do to that person…. What Soandso did was just flat out wrong. I’m pissed. Blah blah blah. I have a resentment I need to clean up.

Proverbs 20:22
22. Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the LORD, and he will avenge you.

OK God, if you say so. Argh, I wish this came naturally, but it is so far from natural that it’s just another part of the really cool way God does things – it’s so counter to how we’d do them, so counter to our “intuition”. It’s just another example of how we’re wired wrong. Yet, we rail at Him for how dumb he is, how stupid and “confining” His ways are. I’m constantly amazed that I seek my wisdom first and not His. His ways are not my ways and they work better than mine. Yet, I go to me first. I’m gonna need transforming the rest of my life no doubt. At the end of the day, His love, his commitment is greater than I could ever understand.

3:16-17
16. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Yet, I fight to be right instead of submitting and admitting I’m wrong.

1 Corinthians 10:13
13. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Yep. I don’t often think of resentments as temptations, but the are. And I’m really tempted right now. I guess temptations are anything that takes us away from the path God’s set for us in his wisdom and love for us. Funny how ice cream and anger can be in the same vein, but if they take our eyes off of what God has in store for us, if they take us off the path he has set for us, if we take our eyes off the lessons he’s given us, if we take our eyes off the love he has for us, they are the same.

Lord, open my eyes to the light so I can follow you out of the darkness.