Another pearl of wisdom from my son's quiet time.
Philippians 4:4-9
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
I underlined the verse that struck a nerve and led me to ask the questions: Do I posses reasonableness? I am more familiar with "Let your gentleness to evident to all, the Lord is near." How far is the meaning of Reasonableness from gentleness? Do I possess either of these fruits of the spirit.
In order to answer I need to know what Reasonableness is. The dictionary defines Reasonableness as the state of having good sense, sound judgment, being moderate and avoiding extremes. Gentleness is defined as mild and even-tempered.
Now the fun part; self-examination. What does this mean to me and how do I need to apply it to life as I know it. I like to think that I have good sense, that comes with having been a someone wife for 17 years and mom for 14 years. My judgment seems to be pretty good once again referring to that mother thing for 14 years, although they are days that I go to God with my doubts.
Now the second part of my examination: do I self indulge; give in to excess in any area; or fail to restrain my temper and emotions? Moderation is an area I am trying to embrace in all aspects of my life. I tend to moderate my emotions but in recent years I seem to be excessive collecting particular things. Like I can honestly say I have too many clothes; to many books; to many pictures; too many ........ the list is endless. So the questions becomes; why?
Please insert excuses here:............
So
- How many articles of clothing are reasonable?
- How many books are reasonable for a family of five who love reading?
- How many pictures are reasonable for a person who loves capturing the moment and telling a story?
The big question is: Will I repent of the sin of excess?
Where is the magic number that is just right for me; join me on the journey to finding that magic number and repentance.
We become very good at dealing with the big sins; of having our check list and forgetting that we are perfected only thorough Christ our Savior.
How about you what is God calling you to do for him today? Leave a comment if you wish.....
