hell Week

Sorry that I have not blogged in a while I have been a real slacker. So this one may seem a bit long. I will be writing more again this week. Happy reading.

Well, hell week as I like to call it is finally coming to an end here at the Wirth house. You may be asking Paul "why such harsh words about a week at you house?) It is not that bad I guess we just have 3 birthdays that fall within 7 days of each other. Ashlyns' is the 3rd, Susies' is the 7th and Anthony rounds out the week on the 8th. Now mind you this is a plus when it comes to my birthday (Sept 29 for those of you wondering) because I have the day, week and frankly the month all to myself except for the 1st which is my moms birthday. So last weekend Susie and I decided that we would do a complete makeover on the kids rooms for their birthday. Now mind you we decided this on Wednesday night and the project was to commence and be completed between the time the kids left for school on Friday and returned home Friday afternoon. As most projects go at the Wirth house we had great intentions but could not follow through in the time that we alloted ourselves. It is now a week later and I just finished placing the final touched in the kids rooms before the big birthday bash tonight.

You know this whole thing reminds me of our faith journey. Many of us when we first come to Christ see all of the things that need to be renovated and we are excited about it and want it to be done overnight. However, we all to often find that our journey with Christ is a life long journey through which He will make us into the person He wants us to be. Yet there are others on the journey with Christ who are in need of a major spiritual makeover because of spiritual arragance and apathy for those far from Christ. They are the ones who make statements that I find most offensive like "I just don't feel like I am being feed" or "I just need some deeper teaching" to those people I would like to leave a few scriptures for their consumption for the mouth of Jesus:

Matthew 9:9-13

9 Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” Matthew stood up and followed him.10 Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. 11When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?” 12 Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? 13 Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”

WOW did you catch His words here. They are awesome. And here is some of that good deep teaching from Jesus as well. Check this out.

Matthew 22:34-40

34 When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. 35 One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: 36 “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?” 37 Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ 38 This is the most important, the first on any list. 39 But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ 40 These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

Well I think I could stand to work on these few principles for a while. How about you? I am learning that a spiritual makeover is not so much what I think it should be but what God thinks it should be. We have done a great job in religious culture at manufacturing spiritual facades that look good for those who want to look spiritual but to God He see that they are just plastic. Maybe it is time to lay down the plastic and start being real.

peace