September 8th - Reflection

Psalm 101 (NRSV)
Choosing God's law

I will sing of loyalty and of justice;
to you, O Lord, I will sing.
I will study the way that is blameless.
When shall I attain it?

I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;
I will not set before my eyes
anything that is base.

I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.
Perverseness of heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.

One who secretly slanders a neighbor
I will destroy.
A haughty look and an arrogant heart
I will not tolerate.

I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
so that they may live with me;
whoever walks in the way that is blameless
shall minister to me.

No one who practices deceit
shall remain in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall continue in my presence.

Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
cutting off all evildoers
from the city of the Lord.

Reflection
In our desire to walk the way of the Lord, we begin with good intentions. But how do we sustain those good intentions? It always seems to me, I can start the way with this attitude but sometime throughout the day, and sometimes more quickly than others I fall down. I fail the path. I sin.

All I know to do is pick myself back up, refocus on the cross, realize that I have sinned, repent and pray for forgiveness and continue on in the knowledge that Jesus died for my sin and knows that I am a sinner and chooses to use me anyway. Sure, I'll try not to sin again...but I always do! If not the same sin, then another sin.

Once again, get back up, think of my baptism, repent and go on. Seems like a hypocrite to me. But in another way, I realize that my salvation is fully dependant on Jesus. I can't save myself. But I can give my life to Jesus, warts, sin and all and be used in the Kingdom. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
It's another day Lord...use me today...forgive my sin...and take me warts and all...create me into what you want me to be. --- Amen