It has been a while since I have last written in this blog. It's a mixture of laziness, and thoughts of pointlessness. For who am i to speak when there is "Nothing new under the Sun"? Well, lets just say with that said I think I am going attempt more quoting on those who have said it before me. John Wesley was a famous preacher or the seventeenth century. Born in to poverty with 18 brothers and sisters, he managed to go to Oxford. May 24Th, 1738 at a prayer meeting God got a hold of him. I am taking an excerpt from his writings "Christian Perfection". Two of my greatest weaknesses of late are laziness and allowing my pleasures to not be fully rooted in Christ. "... (do not) expect the end without the means: expecting knowledge, for instance, without searching the scriptures and consulting with the people of God or expecting spiritual strength without constant prayer and steady watchfulness, or expecting God to bless you without hearing the word of God at every opportunity."
There are times I think that I can resist the temptations of this world, but I can't without diligence in my relationship with the Father. Wesley reminds me of this truth.
"Beware of thinking, 'because I have the love of God I do not need holiness,' or 'since I pray all the time I have no need for set times of private prayer' or 'because I am spiritual I have no need for self examination'"..."Do not allow the desire for tasteful food or any other pleasure of the senses, the desire of pleasing the eye or the imagination, the desire for money or praise or power, to rule you. While you have the ability to feel these desires, you are not compelled to feel them. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free...Let others see that you are not interested in any pleasure that does not bring you nearer to God, nor regard any pain which does."
That is an intense statement, for I am quite far from only seeking the pleasure that appeases God. I truly realize what this means. If reading a book or watching a movie isn't glorying God, we must not pursue it. If playing a game or singing a song does not Glorify God, it probably isn't what we want to be doing. While this may seem somewhat legalistic, I assure you that a Spirit totally surrendered to God will have natural inclinations such as these. Perhaps we should all consider what it means to be "co-laborers". Being a Christian involves regular disciplines of prayer, fasting, solitude. There is no short-cuts to the "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 3:9, Rom 14:17).
