Vows or something to that effect.....

I am sitting here listening to classical Christmas music as I write this, drinking my peppermint mocha coffee and I am thinking....(now that can be a good thing, and at times I totally over think and get myself in trouble lol). Never the  less I am thinking, about the end of summer, the beginning of school and the Holiday season is just right around the corner. With saying good byes and saying hellos it can get a little discombobulating at times. With all this said I am jumping ahead to New Years and what that brings. Since we have some time before that happens it will give you time to think......We finished Leviticus yesterday we will be moving on to Numbers and I have to say my Pastor makes the Old Testament so interesting I am enjoying it a lot. (I know this seems a far cry from New Years but I promise I will tie it together). Worship what is it? the Merriam Websters online dictionary has 4 meanings for the word. 1. (chiefly British): A person of importance-used as a title for various officials such as magistrates and some mayors. 2.reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also: an act of expressing such reverence. 3. a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual. 4. extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object. Wow I am not sure I like any of them but, it is not my place to judge just to live my life and worship My God and only Him....just sayin....My Pastor said it in a different way that I really like so if I got the basic gist of it here it is Worship~ the bowing of OUR will to Gods....What does this mean to me??? We bow ourselves down so that God's will can work in us. Plain and simple I like simple...so why do we as Humans make it so difficult??? So back to Leviticus 27 it was talking about vows (ahhhh here we go with New Years). A person could "vow" something to God and the priest would then place a value on whatever was vowed, whether it was plant, animal or human. If something was vowed to God it could be gotten back but, the value plus interest had to be paid....my Pastor also made the comment some people are better at making promises than they are at keeping them it seems a bit harsh but, it is totally true.....often when we are in crisis mode we make promises to God do we keep them???? What about promises to our friends, our kids, our spouse or other half??? When we make a vow, promise or  resolution do we make them with a pure heart or pure intentions? When we make a promise do we intend to keep it??? I certainly hope so but, there are times when something beyond our control comes up and we are then forced to break the promise.....If you make a promise it is wrong to break the  promise....people will understand  or at least one would hope they would if plans had to change and, it makes it better to "make it up to them". If you can not keep your word make other arrangements...we expect God to keep His word we should really keep ours....here is another tid-bit from my pastor "it is the expectation of God's character" my opinion we need to be Christ like if we expect God to be God we need to strive to have a Christ like Character. Have you ever been compelled to give yourself wholly to God? To let God control EVERYTHING in your life have you vowed to live for Him alone??? Making vows, promises, resolutions or what ever a promise is a promise even to yourself. As we start looking at the end of the year coming, think about it all around and if you make plans for next  year make sure they are ones you can keep because disappointing yourself is no fun either. I challenge you to start with God and commit, vow or something to that effect now, don't wait.

That's my thought for the day,

Crazy for Christmas