Good Monday morning! Well, Ms. Bullock won the Oscar for Blindside. Who would've thought? Actually, both viewers of the movie and prognosticators of the Oscars alike seemed to think her the favorite this year. Sometimes the underdog does not win and the favorite takes home the trophy. I took a snow picture a couple of weeks ago in my new/old hobby. Today, I can get a rain picture of the same scene! I call it my new/old hobby because I owned a Yashica 35mm film camera way back in the 80's. The newer DSLRs are quite the feat of technical wizardry. Fortunately for us new/old beginners they come with an automatic setting that helps us get started. Wouldn't such a thing be great for starting out our life in Christ?
Suppose the new Christian came with an "auto" button to get us all started. The automatic program would turn up the love not only for God, but for strangers and people we don't even like. The program could have a higher trust setting so that when God sends us to a friend's house, we would be ready to let Him speak through us and lead us to witness gently and effectively. Speaking of being ready, the setting on our natural rebellion and fear would be cranked way down right off the bat. No need to be hampered by those things. The anger that occurs in all of us? Turn that puppy down too, and make it more selective so that we get angry only at the right times and in the righteous way. So many things could be made so much easier in the transition from sinner to saint!
However, as any serious photographer will tell me, the automatic setting is no way to get those stunning shots that knowledge, practice, training, and more practice can develop (pun intended) in the serious professional photographer. The Holy Spirit comes to the new Christian and begins the change process in the best way; God's way. We may still have anger problems, or a struggle with a particular sin, or even doubts about our salvation at times. Pastor Doug gave us 10 Biblical ways to cure anger yesterday, but none of them come to us automatically. We must work at it and trust God to lead us. The Holy Spirit doesn't use an "auto" setting on us because you and I are unique creations of a loving God. We get His full attention and care; no quick and easy automatic settings are involved!
Praise God for the new day!
Bucky
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