Spitting is Always Willful

Curious occurrence this morning that reminded me of a lesson long since taught, but served as an excellent reminder to me, and so too I hope it will with you.

I have a fourteen and a half year old Shih Tzu.  Without a doubt, the older she gets the more willful she gets. Same can be said for mankind.

First thing this morning, she acted as if she has not eaten in days, jumping about in the kitchen, hoping for more than a morsel of what she was smelling.... bacon and eggs.

Being that she is half blind, when she gets as excited as she was this morning, she will snap at the empty air if she detects any motion whatsoever in front of her, desperately assuming that whatever she vaguely sees moving must be the delivery service, aka "mom".... and thus the coming goodies forthwith!

The way she was acting you would have thought she would have gobbled up absolutely anything offered. However, as I dropped the first morsel in her mouth, she spat it out!  Oh, yes she did!

"Seriously?!" I thought.

Still, as she obviously remained excited and hopeful, I tried again.

And for the second time, she foolishly spat it out.

In God's company, I mused, "Are we not exactly like her, Lord? So very hungry, yet so often we spit out what You offer?"

I am sure God has grieved over us too as foolish when we spit out (with ungratefulness in our heart and blinded by selfish will) not once, not twice, but numerous times provision He has graciously provided - be it in the form of a relationship, food, clothing, transportation, lodging, but greater still... His Son, His Word, and His Holy Spirit.

Are we not all guilty of spitting out what He has brought into our lives; often times simply because we're not "feeling" it at the time?   We allow emotions to take over that lead to thoughts: "That's not what I was expecting."  "That's not what I wanted."

And you know what happens in our willful folly?  We continue to grow ever increasingly more hungry, while also growing weaker with each refusal of what He offers...which begins with His Son... God's first and foremost Offering.... literally.  Lord, forgive us!

Please get this! As a Holy God, He can offer us nothing but His best....which is exactly what we NEED, but is rarely.... if EVER...what our carnality wants.

If you truly want the reality of God, His holiness,

and His eternity for your life,

STOP spitting 

and learn to swallow! 

As Kevin Deyoung wrote in "The Hole in Our Holiness":.....

Godspeed.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

What CPU Do You Have?

One day I sat with God, pondering the behavior of some individuals who claim an association with Him while witnessing that their behavior did not line up with Him. He broke into my thoughts with  "Deborah, they do not have My CPU."

I am sure my mouth gaped open in that moment.

(Before I get going, let me explain that in computer terms "CPU" stands for Central Processing Unit. The CPU is the brain; as one website states, "It is responsible for fetching, decoding, and executing program instructions.")

At the beginning of human life, God creates a human being with a free-will CPU.

In time, the human being is given a choice 1) follow Christ or 2) follow Self.   There are no other options. It is one of the two.  If they elect the first, God exchanges via the Holy Spirit their CPU, and from that moment forward their core, the epicenter from where they make all their decisions, changes.

Paul, who was Saul, CHOSE to be transformed; to answer the call on the road to Damascus. He was NEVER the same; calling himself a bond-servant of Christ: a willing, yet bound to, servant.... no longer ruled by free-will, but joyfully bound only to God's will.

Everyone post-Fall who is devoid of Christ operates under a carnal, degenerate CPU, and as a result, they do not have the ability to operate as God does because their CPU is inherently opposed to Him.

To expect a non-believer to love a believer as the believer desires to be loved is foolish because their CPU does not define love as God's CPU defines love.

To expect a non-believer to be kind to a believer as the believer desires to experience kindness is foolish because their CPU does not define kindness as God's CPU defines kindness.

Do you see?

The CORE is different, and if the core is different so too are ALL the definitions .... and as the definitions differ so too will the behaviors.

Believers are edified to not be yoked with non-believers (2 Corinthians 6:14)  because they do not have the same CPU therefore they will never see eye to eye on anything and their expectations will always oppose one another -- NO MATTER how much effort they apply.

Let's take a look at Paul.

Before his conversion, he was a religious leader, heavily influencing the "mainstream religion" of his day, but he did NOT have God's CPU. 

After his conversion, he lamented all the pre-conversion damage he caused as a religious-blind man still using his carnal, degenerate CPU.

What CPU you have matters!  It will utterly and completely define who you are as a person and all your expectations, perceptions, decisions, and behaviors.

Your CPU will determine if  1) you live for Christ and bear Godly fruit or  2) live for self and bear no fruit.

Again, those are the two choices. No middle ground.  No half-believer.  No half-lost.  You are either all in --  or all out.

Allow me to share a very interesting fact that might help explain why Jesus cursed the fig tree. (Mark 11: 12-25)  A fig tree when it leafs, also simultaneously yields immature, though eatable fruit called brebas.  IF a fig tree leafs without bearing brebas, it will neither yield figs.

Christ cursed the fig tree because when he saw it afar off with its leaves, He concluded it would have brebas.... but it did NOT.   It dared to leaf,  but had no fruit NOR the hope for figs later on in its season! Christ was angry at its deceit!  It should have, at the very least, had brebas!   The take-away: do NOT claim to be a Christian if you intend to live for self and bear no fruit!

"Abide in Me, and I in you. 

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 

unless it abides in the vine, 

neither can you, unless you abide in Me."  

John 15:4

"If you do not remain in Me,

you are like a branch

that is thrown away and withers;

such branches are picked up,

thrown into the fire and burned."  

John 15:6

"This is to My Father's glory,

that you bear much fruit,

showing yourselves to be My disciples." 

John 15:8

Allow me to boldly ask:

What is your CPU? 

Answer honestly because, 

just like the fig tree, you will not fool Him.

I implore you:

Exchange your CPU for His today,

and get on with RIGHT living!

Time is indeed short!