WHO, ME???

Hi everyone,

Here comes another vulnerable post...

I once heard or read somewhere that if the only thing you hear from The Lord is what you agree with, are you really hearing Him?

Well sadly, or thankfully I had one of those moments this morning!  

I came to a confronting passage in Hosea 7:8-9  “Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned. Aliens have devoured his strength, But he does not know it; Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, yet he does not know it.

9 

The Message version puts it like this... "Ephraim mingles with the pagans, dissipating himself. Ephraim is half-baked. Strangers suck him dry but he doesn’t even notice. His hair has turned gray—he doesn’t notice."

Yes, I know... it's really confronting, but it caught my attention and I had to ask the Lord what He was trying to say - to me.

It was challenging to me on a couple of fronts.  The first is that in a time when inclusiveness is the order of the day, and so it should be, particularly for The Church, the call to separation is challenging.  

But there is a difference between welcome and losing one's identity in the effort to be welcoming.  Apart from that, there is an element of separation that we are called to in other passages, both new and old testament.  

Speaking of identity, Ephraim means 'doubly fruitful'.  But instead of fruitful, Ephraim had become half-baked.  He had lost his identity and purpose.  Isn't this meant to be our identity as well? (John 15)

So what does that have to do with me.... Have I become half-baked, unfruitful and weak. Or am I in danger of becoming so?

The other aspect of this passage is that from the outward evidence of my life, I'm not hanging out with 'pagans' as The Message so crudely puts it.  Where could this be taking place?

These are the questions I asked.  

Ahh!  

How long is it since I checked  my daily screen time?  What am I absorbing of worldly values that is dissipating my strength and wasting my time?  Whereas in the years before mobile devises I would pick up a book along with my coffee, now I am picking up my phone.

While I am well aware of my grey hair, 😉😉 have I become unaware of how weakened I am becoming through excessive screen time?

This requires prayer and specific actions to put right.  I will share here how I prayed and what steps I would like to take to put that right.

Prayer....

"Lord, I'm called to be fruitful, yet I'm weakened by the time on my devices.  Please help me to 'cut out the eye that offends'. (Matthew 5:29) I will not be bringing my phone with me to Heaven, but I will be bringing the fruit of my choices and actions to You.  Please help me here."

Steps...

1. Pray

2. Don't have my phone with me all the time, and remove the time-wasting apps.

3. Put books and other activities in it's place (by placing those where I normally sit)  

4. Create to do lists filled with necessary, creative and fun tasks.

5. Accountability.

I have shared really honestly here, and I don't know how wise it is to do so. But if truth matters, it matters in the real stuff of life.  May it be an encouragement to prune the things that dissipate our strength and invest that energy into loving God and loving the people in our world, with intention and energy!

With love,

Lynda xx