Under The Oakes

I HATE autocorrect. I have this theory that autocorrect has dumbed down our society to where we couldn’t spell if our life depended on it. This is further proven to me in teaching 7th-12th graders, who self admittedly would tell you they CAN.NOT.SPELL….( I reread these words a few times & it makes it sound like I’m hating on those who can’t spell. Please know that is not my intention, but I think it conveys the point I make, so I’m leaving them in)

On top of the issue of them not knowing how to spell, autocorrect also can REALLY hurt you if you don’t proofread your writings. Especially when it just swaps out the word so spell check doesn’t catch that it is the wrong word. A friend of mine was texting about vending machines to a group, & instead of it saying the pop machine it autocorrected to the pot machine…. Entirely different meaning…

This past week I was teaching one of my classes & we were talking about how we view God. We were looking at Judges 4 which tells us that God went ahead of them & they would have their enemy delivered into their hand, because of God. I asked them if they viewed God as a warrior, or as this gentle cosmic being. Imagine my surprise when I looked up at the powerpoint slide for class, & instead of it asking if God were a gentle cosmic being, the screen asked if God was a gentle cosmetic being…. 

A word spelled slightly different, but it has an ENTIRELY different meaning. I immediately corrected myself, some of them chuckled & we moved on. Afterward I was discussing this with a friend & it was then that I realized how amazing God works. Here I meant to ask my class if God was this gentle cosmic being, a figure in the clouds, controlling the universe, using his white gloves to handle us all with care. When in reality, I asked them if he was a cosmetic being…. A being who is wrapped up in appearances, beauty & beautification…. Is that what God is to us?

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our appearance, & we can even get too involved in our appearance when it comes to attending church. Whether we fear judgment from those around us, or we feel inadequate going to church in our less than Sunday best, we can get too worried about our outward appearance. I want to challenge us to care more about our spiritual being than our outward appearance. I do want to pause & remind us that we should want to give our best to God, but we shouldn’t put our appearance before our heart. If we wait until we are in a perfect place, physically, mentally, emotionally, to go before God, we will never go.

We quote Matthew 11:28 all the time…. It is a very comforting verse, so we love to remind ourselves of it. But we need to read it for what it says. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” I am a firm believer that we need to see what scripture says, & we equally need to see what scripture doesn’t say. Jesus doesn’t say, “come to me all who are weary & dressed well”…. Jesus doesn’t say, “Come to me all who are weary & haven’t sinned this week.” He simply says, “come to me.” What great encouragement there is to know that we don’t serve a cosmetic being, someone who is so focused on our appearance, but rather we serve a cosmic being who knows what we need before we even ask (Matthew 6:8), & He will supply all our needs according to His riches & glory (Philippians 4:19). That is the God we serve! Don’t let the world, that tells us our appearance is the most important thing about us, dictate what we do. Let me leave you with a separate quote instead…. “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” – A.W. Tozer 

As a believer in Jesus Christ, we are all theologians, & what we know of Christ is THEE.MOST.IMPORTANT.THING in our lives. God’s Word, which in our country, we have full access to, praise God for that! So read the Word, daily, spend that time with God, & grow in your faith. Find a good bible preaching church that will challenge you to go deeper into God’s Word. Don’t be a surface christian…. Someone who goes to church on Sunday, but their Bible sits in the same spot, or never leaves the car. Salvation is so much more than a magic phrase we say, it is a relationship with the One, True, Living God! Pursue Him, honor Him, glorify Him, in ALL you do! Be blessed!