"Wellpleasing in His Sight"

"Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:21 KJV)

  "Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowances for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful." (Colossians 3:12-15 NLT)

 I have a feeling to not spend any time doing this blog during Man Camp this weekend. I have always committed myself to do this as much as I could; these last few visits in the hospital have given me the opportunity to slip away from this, a few days at a time; even not feeling guilty! That said, this has been something that causes me to dive into the Bible, each and every day; something that I failed doing prior to starting this journey, back on January 1st, 2010. 

 Before my first hospital visit, I had never missed a day; even though I might have had to be late, I still made every effort to stay committed to not missing a single day. As I have said before, there are times when I feel as though I am too committed, as if this has been too much of a journey. But since my first stay in the hospital, I feel that two or three days off is really actually refreshing. 

 Anywho, this passage reminds me of a message I heard back in the late 90's, which was a time I felt as though I needed to go to a Calvary Chapel Conference, in San Jose. It was a very critical time in my life, as the business was having financial issues and the IRS was pressing me to get caught up on my taxes. I almost had another side that didn't want to go; but my heart felt that it needed to happen. 

 The first speaker was Pastor Damian, who I had never heard before. As he opened up the message, he asked us to open our Bible's up to a certain Scripture, which I can't recall. But as soon as he read the very first word, by heart was broken, and I began to weep. As much as I have been to many different gatherings, this was the very first time that this had ever happened. 

 As Pastor Damian continued, my mind was focused on everything he had to say. He began speaking about this passage that I typed out this morning, from Colossians 3. As he was illustrating certain actions, involving laying out clothes, he was actually motioning out what it might look like to lay out clothes on a bed. There were a couple other Pastor's nearby, who were laughing to each other, as if what he was demonstrating was a joke. 

 My heart felt a little broken, for a moment; but I soon realized it was actually not that unusual for some Pastor's to mock each other's teachings...

"And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. And remember, our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him - speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction." (2 Peter 3:14-16 NLT)