Skip to main content

BUT OUT

Yes, I realize that the usual phrase “butt out” is spelled with two “t”s, but my misspelling is intentional.  So often we have used the word but in our sentences.  Even after I was thinking this last night, my husband caught me in the act multiple times.

I want to do this, but…

I would find time to serve the poor, but…
I would call her, but…
I would find time to read the Bible every day, but…

Fill in the blanks.  It is easy to say I would or I should do something and then justify why we are not doing it.  Our lives take precedence over everything and we justify not having time to do this or that.  I know that I do.  Sometimes the word but is very useful, it helps us stay on the straight and narrow path.  But lets look at it in our spiritual life.  Lets look at the but in our walks with God. 

There isn’t always a black and white answer to everything in the Bible.  Sometimes there are shades of gray that we must dive deeper into the scriptures to discover the true meaning of.  Some things are very black and white, like the 10 commandments.  The scripture that really stuck out to me today was from John

John 21:15-17:

“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?’
‘Yes Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you,’
Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.’
Again Jesus said, ‘Simon son of Jon, do you truly love me?’
He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’
Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’
The third time he said to him, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’
He said “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.’” (NIV)

Simon Peter could have said, “Yes Lord, you know I love you, but it isn’t cool to love you.  The people are making fun of me and I don’t want to die.”  He could have said, “Lord, you know that I love you, but I denied you because I was scared.”  But he didn’t, he answered with no buts.  And Jesus gave him specific instructions. 

Do we love God?  Do we want to follow Him even if it means going to our deaths?  Do we put a big but in the middle of our love for God?  Do you (as I do) justify our failures in serving Him with a big but?  Because friends, I can assure you, God doesn’t like big buts…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What do you fight about?

I heard a blood curdling scream from the other room, followed by the cries of my other child and then a smack.   I had been sitting at the computer, and leaned my head back closed my eyes, took a deep breath and went to encounter the argument head on.   Apparently my youngest daughter was playing with a stuffed giraffe that my oldest daughter sometimes sleeps with.   Amidst the crying and tears, I was able to formulate the events that took place.   My youngest daughter had gone to the toy room and gotten the giraffe (a green 16” giraffe with brown spots) out of the room and brought it into the other room.   Here, the older sister saw that the coveted giraffe was not in her room and grabbed it from her sister.   The younger one screamed and bit the older sister who then cried and hit the little sister.   As I took another cleansing breath I began dealing with the issue at hand.   It is very difficult to reason with a 2 and 3 year old and let alone a woman, so we ended up agreeing to do
2 comments
Read more

do I mis-use the Bible?

WOW!   This morning I sat and started to read through Ecclesiastes.   I don’t know if the author of Ecclesiastes, Perhaps King Solomon, had a very sarcastic view on life or if he was just babbling.   But I can definitely see how this book could get a lot of people into trouble if they don’t know the full book or continue to read.   There are verses in there that say things like; eat, drink and enjoy the days on earth because they are meaningless, it is good to enjoy your time on earth and do not worry about anything. To get the full meaning of the book, you need to read it all- the true gems are the last two verses.   This book was written by someone (according to my study Bible) that was near the end of his life, he sees man in pursuit of so many things and vainly pursuing hopes and expectations- but faith teaches him that God has ordered all things according to his own purposes and that we need to accept our limitations.   The last two verses are the writers final conclusion: Eccle
3 comments
Read more

predictions...

We were all privileged to see the recent hype about the end of the world coming n May 21 st 2011.   The time came and passed without a rapture, without an earthquake, without a storm…   What were those people thinking and feeling?   This prediction made so many question Christianity and question God in general.   Now there were some good aspects of this prediction.   It got people thinking and talking about salvation and their eternal destiny… and, well, that is all I can think of.   Now lets look at what the non-Christian’s saw: a man, claiming to know the answer, claiming that he was right, who had a following, a way to spread his message and an amazing amount of money which usually makes you right in America.   If you were a non-Christian and you saw this guy talking and then May 21 st came and went, you would either think that Christianity was a crock, or that everything that the Bible says is a lie because his equation came from the Bible.   I had one of my non-Christian friend
2 comments
Read more