But this week I knew it would be different.
So I prayed even more fervently: "Lord, please give me a sermon, because I know we are having church on Sunday!"
And I tried everything I could think of to give Him an avenue to speak to me. Listening to Christian music. Watching a video devotional every morning. Meditating on Scripture. (Okay, maybe not meditating. But at least reading a verse a day.) Quoting the Bible to all my friends going through hard times. Even my job has had me reading Christian nonfiction all month long.
But I just wasn't getting a sermon.
What was I doing wrong?
On Saturday (after watching TV most of the day Friday because that is what I do when I am stressed), I decided that distracting myself by reading the latest book from the fabulously sarcastic Angie Smith would be as good a plan as any.
And it was precisely where God had hidden my sermon.
In addition to being an all around amazing book, Chasing God included this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
In an instant I knew my prayer, and my approach, had been all wrong. I had been doing and praying what I thought was important. But God didn't want me to busy myself with "religious" activities all the while praying "Lord, give me a sermon." What GOD wanted me to pray was: "Lord, MAKE ME a sermon!"
In other words:
Lord, take this life--this messy, selfish, imperfect life--and let others see your grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love in me. Not because I am consistently faithful, but because You are. Lord, make my life--MAKE ME--a sermon!Because walking with God is not about listening to the "right" music or reading the "right" number of Bible verses a day or even learning to talk like Jesus.
To walk with God is to learn to LIVE like Jesus.
So the best sermon I can give is not going to be found in the words I speak on Sunday morning. The best sermon is going to be the one I live each and every day.
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