BOREDOM OR ABUNDANT LIVING by Ruth Youngdahl Nelson

I’ve been a little quiet lately. A little reflection happening in my life. All good stuff! Details soon!!!

Tonight as I was spending a little time reading I came across a devotion that I just had to share. 

I DID NOT WRITE THIS!

BOREDOM OR ABUNDANT LIVING

By Ruth Youngdahl Nelson

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

Housewives bored with life are top drug users, concludes a study.

It is sad when people find life boring and take to artificial means to either stimulate or dull their God-given senses. It is particularly sad because the One who brings fulfillment and excitement and joy stands at each heart’s door knocking. But the thief is also there, the thief who comes to steal and kill and destroy. Who is this thief?

As simplistic as it sounds, it is nevertheless eternally true, that thief is embodied in the one letter “I.” “Navel gazing” is no newfangled occupation. Since the beginning of time it has been man’s chief foe. The “poor me” attitude, the stench of self-pity, repels other people and shuts out God.

That big “I” is the only vowel and the middle letter in the word “sin.” How well I remember my confirmation pastor writing those three letters on the chalkboard. Then he told us this same “I” is the blockage between us and heaven. If we permit the Holy Spirit to take hold of the “I” and bend it around until each ends meets, it becomes “0” – zero, nothing. Then the transformation happens, and “sin becomes son,” God’s son. As he takes over our lives, heaven enters our hearts here and now. He is also the means for the gate to be wide open to the hereafter.

I read a lot of devotions. But this particular one really touched my heart. So true in the fact that….we get in our own way. We do more damage than anyone else by having a simple vocabulary of the word “I.”

My prayer is for those struggling with that “I” stronghold. Cry out and allow the Holy Spirit to captivate your heart and meet you right where you are. He doesn’t wait for you to fix it. He will create that transformation as long as you invite Him in.

Blessings~

Bo

5/22/2014