“Conscience overhaul”

If Jesus were an insurance adjuster and I were a wrecked car, He would consider me “TOTALED.” I would be like the car that was repairable but not worth the cost or the time because I would be full of complicated repairs and even then no one would be interested due to the risks associated with buying a "wreck." It reminds me of my first car which I crashed in college. I loved that car and I took very special care of it, mostly because I never wanted to be considered ungrateful for what I had. So when the question was posed to me, “Total the car or fix it?” out of my foolishness I insisted that the car be fixed. Not the best choice now that I think back about it. I wonder “What was I thinking?”

While studying Romans and Corinthians I was led to examine myself and I have been learning how distorted my conscience really is. For the last 2 weeks, every day Jesus has made me aware of yet another place my conscience needs adjusting. Sometimes I think it would be easier if Jesus would just give me a complete conscience overhaul. Rather than wonder where my conscience needs adjusting, I actually wonder where it doesn’t need adjusting. I ask Jesus, “Wouldn’t it be simpler to start with a completely new conscience rather than try to fix the wrecked one?”

Paul taught us about weak consciences and admittedly I have the "overactive" kind. My conscience convicts me of many, many things. (Go ahead and laugh those of you who knew me early in my walk.) No wonder I have often been told that I am harder on myself than Jesus. I have these unobtainable expectations for myself and often times I demand more of myself than Jesus does. And when I don’t achieve all that I expect, (notice I said "I expect", not what "Jesus expects") I punish myself and withdraw from Him feeling completely unworthy to call myself a Christian. Sounds like 2 Cor 7:10 which says, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."

Thankfully, Jesus in His faithfulness, sees the intent of my heart and my actions and when asked, “Fix her or total her, she's not worth the expense?” he replies, “9My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor 12:9). And what better reply is there than Paul’s reply, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:9-10).

No doubt, we were born wrecks with lives full of "accidents." We can be assured that the road to complete restoration is long and full of complications and trials, yet we do not lose confidence or shrink back!

Heb 10:35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while,

"He who is coming will come and will not delay.
38 But my righteous one will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back,
I will not be pleased with him."

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Salvaged by Christ, the King of Repairs

Mandy

“Turn on the Light”

When I lived with the Simon's in Lousiana, one morning I opened the door to leave my room and found a surprise left by the cat. As I looked down at the floor in the dark hallway, I noticed what appeared to be cat vomit right in the entrance of my doorway. (You must be thinking, “Surely she is not going to tell a story about cat puke!” Hang in there. It’s worth it!) This automatically fired me up even though I had just crawled out of bed. I immediately made up my mind that I was not about to clean it up and I thought through several excuses as to why I should just leave it and step around it until someone else came upon it. Every time I went into and out of my room, I would get a little more aggravated as I stepped around it since I had already had enough run-ins with this cat. As I got ready for work, my conscience would not rest about leaving the mess, because I knew it would be a lie if I pretended like I hadn’t noticed it. The scripture in James 3:17 repeatedly came to mind, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” I finally decided I couldn’t stand it anymore so I got some paper towels to clean it up. On the way back to my room, as I grumbled under my breath something about “cleaning up cat puke,” I turned on the light to see a pile of yellow carpet the cat had torn up (and arranged to look like a vomit!). Talk about making a mountain out of a carpet pile! I couldn’t imagine what God could teach me from this situation, but it became clear to me that my entire reaction was based on what I thought I saw looking into the darkness. As soon as I turned on the light, the truth was revealed and my distorted perception of what I thought I saw coupled with my previous experiences was exposed. When we view our tough circumstances based on the past without an eternal perspective, it is just like looking into the darkness. In John 1:6 –7 it says, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” Without light we can’t see properly. Jesus is our Light according to John 1:4-5, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” If we study God’s Word, we can trust Him to show us perfectly what is before us. In Psalm 18:28 it says, “You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.” And in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” In 2 Peter 1:19 it says, “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” Even when things look awful, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Get that into your spirit!! According to God’s word, what we see, whether accurate or not, is just temporary anyway!!! Be encouraged, “We live by faith and not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7.

Your sister seeking to be “well-lit,”

Mandy Wakefield

“The Bigger-Picker Upper”

One day after work I hurriedly went into the kitchen pressed for time, which means I was easily provoked to frustration, and I noticed some water on the countertop. As I began to clean up what I thought was just an isolated puddle, I become aware of a nearby overturned cup and even more water that covered the entire counter saturating everything in its path. This was all compliments of the cat we were cat-sitting that wasn’t aware of the “no cats on the countertop” rule. To make matters worse, the entire time I was cleaning up the mess, the cat was winding itself around my feet and begging for attention. I literally prayed taking my thoughts captive to Christ because things weren’t looking too good for the cat. Each time I thought I had it all cleaned up, I saw the water had gotten a little further. There was not a paper towel designed for the size of this job. It seemed like the more I found to clean, the more the cat wanted attention and petting from me. I’m thinking, “Surely there is something I can learn from this situation!” “Ask and you shall receive.”(Matt 7:8) I asked, and just like solving the million-dollar puzzle on wheel of fortune, God opened my eyes to understand more about my relationship with Him. Just like this kitty cat, I get into places I shouldn’t be and end up making a mess (purposely or not) and then God has to come clean it up. My messes are often times much bigger than I realize, and what I think is just a small puddle actually saturates everything in its path. The entire time God is cleaning up my messes, I sit at His feet and ask Him to give me some attention not even considering all He has done and continues to do for me. Jesus is “The Bigger-Picker Upper," who was without blemish and in the greatest act of love, laid down his life and took on all of our "messes." 1 Peter 2:24-25 says "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."

Be encouraged with simplicity,

Mandy Wakefield