Thank you, Beth

I blogged a bit on Monday that I've been reflecting on some things in my life. I don't know when/if I'll share the details on here with you, but I know one thing for sure: I do not have a way with words. I will probably never be called to write a great speech or a novel. But Beth Moore is good at words. It's a gift of hers. And yesterday she posted this blog post:

Like Slaves in Search of Little Masters

I would encourage you to read the whole article, but here are the highlights that I know God intended for me to read.

We forget we’ve been set free. We keep returning back to that enslaved way of thinking and living and find ourselves in bondage to a host of little masters. Most of these things are not bad in themselves. Maybe they’re even good. They’ve just taken more authority and attention than they should. I’ve had one of those recently. That’s not true. I’ve had a lot more than one but there is one in particular I became most aware of. It wasn’t a bad thing. Not a sinful thing. It had just become too much of a thing. It had the makings of an addiction and, Lord, have mercy, I’m the last person who needs to open that door again. I had lost the ability to be moderate with it. People can say what they want about whether or not we can hear the inaudible voice of God in our spirits but, as I live and breathe, there I was doing that thing again and I felt Him say, “STOP IT.”

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Something may be permissible that has grown out of proportion until it has ceased to be beneficial. It has taken a place of mastery. Authority. We feel enslaved to it. Maybe some of us can actually go from addiction straight to moderation but most of us have to actually stop the thing for a while to give the power over us time to break. Then, if our flesh dies down about it and we can manage to rediscover that beautiful thing called moderation, we can reintroduce it. IF we will employ the strength of the Holy Spirit within us to command it to behave and keep its place. I’ve had a few other things in my life, things that offered no benefit whatsoever, that simply had to be cast out for good. And, after I could get over those first pangs of craving, I gladly said good riddance.

I think Beth stated it very well. What I've been reflecting on, and in some instances removing, is not sin as the world would see it. But it is something that took my attention away from things I should be focusing on. Thanks, Beth, for taking a break from your studies to post this yesterday. I know God had one very specific use for it.