You're probably wondering about the title...my daughter Isabella loves to clean-she comes by it honestly. I am a shameless clean freak. One morning I was working away in the kitchen while she had the mop I'd left out overnight to dry. And I look over to check on her and my then-7-month-old son, and say the five words I never thought I'd say as a parent, "Isabella, don't mop your brother!" He didn't mind, and she just wanted to make sure he was sparkly. So welcome to my world!



Monday, February 27, 2012

I Saw the Lord...and all my sins


Our women studied the Ann Graham Lotz I Saw the Lord DVD series recently and she touched on sin. Well, she pounded our toes about it, but in the DVD she only scratched the surface of the list in her book. I borrowed it from my mother-in-love and here’s the list. Mercy me! I feel that I can absolutely related to Isaiah who stated in Isaiah 6: 5a,
“Woe is me!(H) For I am lost;(I) for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” 
Well, here, look at the list for yourself and see if you aren’t needled about a thing or two (or several).
Ingratitude: For what blessing, or answered prayer, have you neglected to thank God?
Neglect of Bible reading: How many days have you gone without opening your Bible? How many days have you read it yet cannot remember what you have read?
Unbelief: What promise has God given you that you doubt will be fulfilled? Are you doubting that He is willing to forgive any and all of your sin?
Prayerlessness: How often are your prayers just spiritual "chatter"-offered without fervent or focused faith? And remember, daydreaming or fantasizing is not prayer.
Unconcern for the lost: Who do you know who has never received Christ as Savior? When have you shared the gospel with that person? Never?
Ignorance of the lost: Did you skip church when a missionary was scheduled to speak because you thought he or she would be boring? Can you even name one missionary who is on your prayer list?
Hypocrisy: Are you pretending to be more spiritual than you are? Are you pretending to be anything that you are not?
Pride: Are you impressed with your own reputations and accomplishments? Are you offended and resentful when someone else receives attention? When sitting in church, instead of preparing your heart for worship, are you wondering if people have noticed your appearance?
Neglect of family: What have you truly sacrificed for their spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being? Nothing? Very little?
Neglect of God's family: Who has fallen into sin or disgrace within your church? What have you done to reach out to that person in love? Or is there someone within your church family who has lost a job or is in some physical or practical need, and you have said glibly, "I'm praying for you" yet have done nothing to help? And then did you quickly forget, and didn't pray?!
Envy: Who seems more gifted and fruitful and recognizable than you? Have you felt jealous?
Critical spirit: When have you found fault with someone because he or she doesn't measure up to your standards?
Slander: When have you told the truth about someone, with the intention of causing others to think less of him or her?
Lying: When have you either made a statement or tried to make an inference that was contrary to the unvarnished truth?
Cheating: When have you not done to others what you would have them do to you?
Robbing God: When have you exercised your gifts or spent your time, money, or energy on things that had a selfish goal, without asking God first?
"The list goes on: anger, jealous, gossip, worry, doubt, immorality of any kind whether visual, mental, virtual or actual..."

It's in no way meant to guilt me into feeling bad. On the contrary, it's a good checkup to see how I'm doing and where in this list I fall (and fail!) and have God point those areas out to me. As a Type A+++ personality, I have a severe obsession with like to make checklists. I like to plot out my days and check! that's done, check! another task handled, check! that's off my list. But this is one checklist that's best pored over. I certainly don't want to be checking off a bunch of these!

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