You see, Sissy was a young member of our church who had been widowed just weeks ago and left with three young children. She had had to move into a smaller house, and the huge house she had left had to be cleaned by June 1st. Some of us ladies were going to do that cleaning for her.
"No Lord, I don't want to drive to town. That will take almost half an hour to go just one way. Then there will be at least 4 hours of work. I'm too tired. I'm too old for this. There will be other ladies there. I think I will cancel out." Those were my thoughts as much as I hate to admit it. Yes, I know I had volunteered, but I wanted to stay home.
"Maybe I'll call the church and tell them I'm not feeling too well." I could have done that, but I didn't because I would be lying. I spent the next half hour trying to figure out some way to get out of my commitment. This is where the Lord started in on me by using scripture I had recently memorized.
"The religion that God our Father accepts and pure and faultless is this: to look after the orphans and the widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
That scripture sent some guilt through me because I really didn't want to give up MY day at home for a day at Sissy's. I tried some more mental gymnastics to get out of going. My heart was definitely in need of cleansing, perhaps more that Sissy's house. I soon discovered that God wasn't going to leave me alone until that happened.
"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do, and doesn't do it, sins." James 4:17
Ouch! OK, Lord, I get it. It's not about me, but I want it to be about me. I want to stay home.
"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:7
Lord, you know my faith has deeds. Didn't I spend several hours last night helping out with a Christian Youth Ministry event? I should be off the hook on this house cleaning thing, shouldn't I?
"Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." James 1:22
Finally, finally I had to claim James 4:7-10. "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
So now, to make a long story short, by the time I arrived at Sissy's, I was no longer resenting the "imposition" on my time. I was looking forward to doing something different with ladies I didn't really know. For five hours, three of us worked and got most of the cleaning done. In the end, we were tired but so glad we were able to bless Sissy in this way. In addition, we were blessed in the process. Oh that I could learn this lesson well.
I know there will be many more times I will have to fight this battle : my will vs God's will. I am so thankful, though, that I have now experienced the power of having God's word committed to memory. The Spirit has so much more ammo to use
Now, this very day, I am experiencing the blessings of people giving up their own time to help me. They have other things they could be doing and maybe even prefer to be doing, but they are here. My family is mowing my yard because my mower is broken. It is no easy task because my grass is a couple feet tall and it takes a riding mower to conquer the acreage. They have purchased material for some repair work on my garage that needs to be done before it can be painted. They have made arrangements for someone to do the repair work. And the Lord has provided a beautiful sunny day for us.
Now that I have said all that, another scripture comes to mind. "But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does." James 1:25
Lord, may I not forget what I hear in your perfect law, but may I do it. Amen.
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