Pick Your Battles

Recently I was going to a local grocery store to pick up some lunch.  The parking lot has angled parking, so it is basically one-way driving down the row.  I noticed a front spot open, but I needed to go down the one row to come back up the other to get it.  It was easily my spot until a small white sedan whipped around the wrong way to fit into it.  It was such an impossible turn that the car needed to reverse a couple times to straighten up so it wouldn't hit the vehicle next to it nor the big curb on the other side.

I was furious at this driver.  I purposely was stopped right by them so I could see the drivers face.  It was a little awkward because there were two people in the car and they were not getting out.  I was impatient and drove over to the next aisle and found something much further away.  By the time I got out I saw the two people and if I didn't know better I could tell they were looking right at me.  Did they know what they did wrong?  Did they think I was the one at fault?

For reasons that only I can contribute to God, a voice spoke to me telling me to pick my battles wisely.  I was still very mad, but I started to reason with my conscience why in the world was that spot so important to me?  And why was I getting so mad about it?  I remembered John 15:12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."  There are things that us Christians should speak up about.  Injustices are being done everyday.  It comes down to me if my battles are going to glorify God or denigrate Him.

The Founder

There is so much to read online about faith.  But there is even more I would say that each of us thinks about pertaining to our faith.  Of course this idea of faith has a different perspective to different people. When the word comes up it might mean trusting in another's ability.  For a non-believer this is where faith plays it's part.  You can have faith in your favorite sport's team or the faith in a co-worker to accomplish a project.

The issue that comes up is one of voidance.  There is not one person in this world that hasn't made mistakes.  Yes there are people that get labeled as being 'a good person', but even if I have this label I will eventually let you down.  That is why we need someone that is perfect that doesn't and will not disappoint.  Hebrews 12:2a states that looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith is where our faith comes from.  It not only comes from Him who is perfect in every way, it has been planned this way from creation that we may look to Jesus to fill the void.  If faith is a belief and trust in God, it is God who has provided that faith in us.  A Life of No Separation.

Foul

Recently I've been attending several Middle School Boys Basketball games.  This is my son's first year on the team and it brings back a lot of memories of when I played.  In fact I've noticed some changes to the rules.  On free throws the players line up in different areas.  Also when someone takes a free throw nobody can move until the ball hits the basket.  Those are just a few things I noticed, but it doesn't take away from how the game is played.

One thing that hasn't changed is referees.  They still where the black and white uniforms.  They makes bad calls and they miss other ones.  It is frustrating that in every game I've watched these bad calls have happened.  It is almost as if there uniform represents something about the person.  One color, black, represents all these bad calls because of the human imperfection.  While the other color, white, represents the purity of their calls.  The referee never gets enough credit for all the calls he gets right.

When we judge things in our own eyes we have cloudy vision of what is reality..  Yet the Lord's judgement is what is pure and right. It is what Paul's point about being made righteous through faith, not the law.

Proverbs 16:2
2  All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit.