Perturbed

This is when you know they are tired of you taking photos!
Actually, he's just a real ham.  He couldn't wait to see this one!

January 19

In a recent She Reads Truth post an author told a story of realizing her toddler had taken permanent maker and colored a couple pages of her Bible.  The first reaction was to reprimand and teach right from wrong, until God impressed upon her heart that the child was mirroring what she watched her mother do each day...mark in her Bible.

We are so quick to react to situations.  Often there is much more than we are aware of behind a situation.  In the book of John, this example is taught to us time and time again through Jesus' actions: The Samaritan woman, the woman caught in adultery, and stories of healing taking place.  

Jesus made the Pharisees uncomfortable.  He didn't play by their rules.  They wanted to oust Him from their territory. Okay, from the earth.  They didn't know who He was.  The Son of God right there in their midst, yet being rule keepers, they missed the most precious relationship they could ever have had.

Where is our focus?  Are rules and the way we think things should be done keeping us from seeing what good  God is up to?  Instead of being perturbed by situations, let's pray through them asking the Holy Spirit to teach us to see things as Jesus does.

So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.”

1 Peter 1:13 MSG