Sermon Note #7
Sermon Note #7: An unguarded strength is a double weakness.
Galatians 6:3 "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."
I saw the advertisement online: Write the Word journals. A beautiful cover with embossed gold lettering. Each page included a scripture verse that you would look up in the Bible and then write down in the journal. "The physical act of writing the scripture," it claimed, "is proven to have a significant impact on your life."
I pondered it for a moment and immediately came to their same conclusion. This will have an impact! I will write the Word! This will change my life! But, I'm clever and frugal and I wasn't going to be fooled into buying a $20 journal in order to do it. So I grabbed an old notebook, sat down with a pen, closed my eyes, and opened my Bible. I flipped strategically towards the back as to not risk getting a verse with instructions to sacrifice an ox on the twentieth day of the second month of the fourth year. With my eyes still closed, I dragged my finger down the page while praying silently, Lord, lead me. Lead me to the first verse that I will write in this journal; a verse that will change me forever. With an abrupt stop, I opened my eyes to see where I'd landed: Galatians, Chapter 6, verse 3.
If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
I read it a second time. And then a third. I quickly skimmed surrounding verses thinking maybe there was a better verse nearby that God had intended to reveal to me instead. Finally, I surrendered to my fate and wrote the verse down on paper. Galatians 6:3: If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
That was several years ago and I can confirm that it did, in fact, change my life. In his letter to the churches in Galatia, Paul wrote that verse in a specific context with a different meaning, but writing it down as a stand-alone verse that day in my journal, it was my reminder to be humble; a most difficult task.
I enjoy reading professional development books and I recently came across a great analogy in Dale Carnegie's book The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking. "A good speaker is like a good window," he writes. A good window does not call attention to itself, it merely lets in the light.
When it comes to my faith, am I a good window? Do I crave being noticed by others or do I crave others noticing my Creator? What choices can I make each day so that when people look at me, they merely see the light of Christ?
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