...//dang 2.0

so i was writing in my journal tonight that i had blogged about the deuteronomy thing and was underlining 2 tim 1.9 in my bible when all of a sudden it hit me:
"[For it is He] Who delivered and saved us and called us with a calling in itself holy and leading to holiness [to a life of consecration, a vocation of holiness]; [He did it] not because of anything of merit that we have done, but because of and to further His own purpose and grace (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago]."(emphasis added)

"a vocation of holiness" wow...God wants our vocation--that thing we do daily to be of holiness. **

and then i stumble across this verse in 2 tim 2.4
"No soldier when in service gets entangled in the enterprises of [civilian] life; his aim is to satisfy and please the one who enlisted him."

dang...again...so it reminds me of David and Uriah (Bathsheba's 1st hubby)...1} David did not follow God by going out to war like He as King was supposed to do> when You don't follow where God is leading--you can get messed up. 2} David messed up--when you're not where God is, your flesh is in control and you come to a point where you wonder how you got there in the first place...well, for starters, you didn't follow God and GPS (God Protection Services) doesn't work outside His boundaries 3}Uriah was a man like David, after God's heart and he understood what it meant to be a soldier> no matter who it is telling you to do something, even if that thing is a pleasurable as getting a night with your wife, i mean seriously what man would love a free night of sex with his wife--you have to know what Your calling is and what God has called you to and stand by it...don't just listen to somebody cause they're in leadership, they may not be right...you have to follow God> which is what Uriah did 4} David got entangled in civilian affairs (literally) and when you mess up and your aren't following the voice of God--people get hurt 5}look at how it affected David's lineage and how he couldn't do the one thing he wanted--build the temple.

God is not playing around when he says don't tolerate sin--don't compromise my Word. He doesn't joke around, especially with those who are drawn into a leadership position. When you mess up, He doesn't smack your hand and sit you in a corner--when you mess up because you didn't follow him, because you compromised your priorities and your vocation was no longer of holiness but of the flesh...people can get hurt--lives--and it's because of one mistake we made that can ruin someone else's life.

He continues to make His point in verses 21-23
"21So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work.
22Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness (all that is virtuous and good, right living, conformity to the will of God in thought, word, and deed); [and aim at and pursue] faith, love, [and] peace (harmony and concord with others) in fellowship with all [Christians], who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.
23But refuse (shut your mind against, have nothing to do with) trifling (ill-informed, unedifying, stupid) controversies over ignorant questionings, for you know that they foster strife and breed quarrels."

like...dang 2.0

ciao'
bethany

**dictionary.reference.com
vo·ca·tion   [voh-key-shuhn]
–noun
1.a particular occupation, business, or profession; calling.
2.a strong impulse or inclination to follow a particular activity or career.
3.a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life.
4.a function or station in life to which one is called by God.