Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Showing up Tuesday, February 16, 2010 James 1:13-18 Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every good and perfect gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures. I hold on with all my might to those words, â€Å"nothing fickle.� God is never going to let me go, never give up on me … I don’t make much of a showing on the chart of perfection or even the Matto chart* of effort. He sees us as â€Å"the crown� of all he created, but I sure don’t see myself that way. I need his vision more every day. He’ll never let up on me either, I guess. He knows my strength much better than I do. But for me to call that punishment or temptation misses the point of his nature. God is love. When I think about making relationship with something smaller or self-destructive, He will always find a way to get my attention again. If I turn my head just a few inches away from the computer screen, my eyes fill with snow falling on cedars and maples and oaks. The flakes are huge and white. They are so beautiful as they cascade slowly down. I have been learning to spend a little time in the morning before I get up talking to God and listening to him talk back. I don’t have much idea what these talks are going to be before they happen. But I trust him. God knows the real me and loves me still. So I show up for our little talks. And he does too. How blessed the man you train, O Lord, the woman you instruct in your word, providing a circle off quiet within the clamor … the minute I said, â€Å"I’m slipping, I’m falling,� your love, God, took hold and held me fast. When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up. --- Psalm 94, The Message * http://www.illinoisloyalty.com/GoIllini/20090113_the_matto_chart "; Add      Edit    Delete