Life would be better for each of us if we’d just get rid of those stubborn “except” habits.
You know…. habits like these:
— Making sure to exercise daily, drinking filtered water, buying all-natural meats and organic milk, and eating healthfully except for the bag of greasy chips or bowl of fat-filled ice cream eaten in front of the TV at night.
— Making sure to be one of the slower drivers on the highway, always wearing seatbelt, keeping twice the recommended following distance, and doing everything right except that you sometimes text behind the wheel and are allowing the extra space in hopes that you’ll have time to look up and see the driver in front of you has slammed on his or her brakes.
— Making sure to be helpful around the house, putting things back in place, taking your dishes to the sink, and being a good family member except for the trouble randomly caused by your razor-sharp tongue that lacerates those who love you.
I could go on, of course, but you get the idea.
We all have items on our personal sanctification “to do” list and will continue having work to do on ourselves until we leave this life for the next.
We cannot allow ourselves to grow content with our flaws.
For Satan is doing all that he can to nurture those flaws so that they grow into larger, more disruptive vines that choke off our fruitfulness and wreck our testimony.
Sadly, this very thing happened with King Solomon.
It took a long time, but Satan accomplished many of his kingdom- and faith-limiting goals.
And it all started with the “except” choices.
“Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places” (I Kings 3:3).
Solomon’s heart was still solid toward God at this early stage of his kingdom. But his head was handicapped by a lack of attention to history.
Sacrifices and incense were to be offered at the Tabernacle and later the Jerusalem temple, not at the closest Hilltop Christian Church.
The scriptures were filled with this teaching, yet good intentions too often outweighed bad precedents.
Solomon eventually worshipped at all sorts of high places, many times for the purpose of exalting the pagan gods of his foreign wives.
Some of his worship practices at the high places were horribly offensive to God.
Once Solomon crossed the line into a little variance from the will of God for worship, then it became easier to take the next wandering step. And the next. And the next.
Just like it gets easier to eat one late-night scoop. And then two late-night scoops.
And then a second bowl.
You get the point.
We’ve got to learn the Word and live the Word with a passionate pursuit of precision.
The danger of accepting the “except” habits is just too great.
I pray you’ll jump-start that learning process by being in church this Sunday. That means joining with others in corporate praise, learning, and communion.
Remember, being a good Christian except for going to church doesn’t get it with God.
Weekly worship is what the early church did (Acts 20:7, Hebrews 10:25) and it’s what we are to do.
Don’t be exceptional in this respect. Join the crowd.
As always, I love you
Martin
