Gigi's Blog

I taught last night on the scripture I blogged on yesterday.

Luke 11:37-41When he finished that talk, a Pharisee asked him to dinner. He entered his house and sat right down at the table. The Pharisee was shocked and somewhat offended when he saw that Jesus didn't wash up before the meal. But the Master said to him, "I know you Pharisees burnish the surface of your cups and plates so they sparkle in the sun, but I also know your insides are maggoty with greed and secret evil. Stupid Pharisees! Didn't the One who made the outside also make the inside? Turn both your pockets and your hearts inside out and give generously to the poor; then your lives will be clean, not just your dishes and your hands.

I told my class that Jesus was not influenced or impressed by the "sparkle".  In fact he was quite the opposite.  But we as humans often are influnced by the sparkle.  I commented that it's sort of like one of my favorite shows on TV "Dog Whisperer".  Cesar will not allow those dogs to become fixated on any one thing.  Because he knows that once that obsession in present, the dog turns into a disobedient, distracted and useless dog.  So when the dogs stare to long, Cesar forces the dog to stop obsessing.  We discussed different ways we can stop our becoming fixated on the sparkling cup.  One of the ways was in the above referenced scripture: turn both your pockets inside and hearts inside out and give generously to the poor.  We talked about prayer and study of the Word, and also not getting to close to the World's sparkle.

I had to share my own sparkling stare that had happened earlier yesterday.  I do not want to share this story with you really.  But, you know how I am.  A big mouth.  I was sitting at my desk yesterday.  Feeling restless.  Feeling stress.  Think about "things".  Questioning "What can I do to change my circustances?"  Feeling sorry for myself.  That's when I did it.  I typed in "settlements for ueter injury".  I began to pour over dollar amounts, just curious about it.  I never ever ever considered calling an attorney or anything like that.  So, what was I doing? 
I was gazing at the sparking cup.  Allowing my eyes to become fixated on something without even realizing it.  But then, thank God he revealed to me what I was doing.  And I knew that even though I was just curious, I realized it was wrong for me to even entertain this focus.  I quickly closed the screen out and asked God to forgive me and help me not to fall into that again. 

I'm sharing this with you just to say it's so easy to stare and focus on what sparkles and not even realize it. 

I pray today for us both.  That we will desire what's pure and clean and right. 

I read this morning:

I Chronicles 19:13b The Lord will do what is good in his sight.

That's all I want.

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