-Quick update here, I thought I had posted this back in October. I just found this post, that should have been the second post in this series sitting in my drafts. I’ve been behind on getting some things together for this series and even though this was supposed to be out before, this feels right 2 months in here in 2024. How are things going with your resolutions? How are things with your changes for 2024? Do you have any idea where you are going this year? Let’s take some time to reflect on how this year is going so far, and make sure we are still grouped, consistent, and On Paper.
If you’ve ever been around someone sighting in a rifle or maybe you’ve been the one doing it, one of your first hopes is just to hit something that you can see. You just want to get on paper. From there you can make corrections, but you just need to know that you are actually making it somewhere. Sometimes that is how we go through life. We might think we are going the right way, but we aren’t even coming close to hitting the what we think we are aiming at.
To figure things out, sometimes it takes moving the paper closer and making other changes. Another way to think about getting on paper is to truly get things down on paper. I’m sure that at some point you’ve heard that the only way to achieve goals is to write them down. The other thing to think about is taking time not only to write your goals but to write down a personal inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. Take the time, to be honest with yourself about your weaknesses and the things that you struggle with. Once we are honest with ourselves and acknowledge our problems, we can start to deal with them.
18And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
Romans 7:18-19
Getting on paper in this series is, spending time getting into the Bible, get into God’s papers. For many of us, sitting down and taking 5, 10, 15 minutes to read the Bible is a challenge. We will spend hours watching videos, reading reviews on cars, trucks, guns, bows, etc., but when it’s the Bible, we struggle. God has given us the instructions, as much as we hate to read instructions, we need to take the time to find the things that God has laid our for us. At our church of the last few weeks, we have been talking about David moving the Ark of the Covenant back into Jerusalem. When he first started moving it, he did what he thought he should do, put it on a cart, and move it with his power as the mighty ruler that he was. This resulted in one of the people in the group dying when he accidentally touched the Ark. David decided to stop moving the Ark and placed it in someone’s house. When he went back to move it again, David consulted the law and history. God had already told his people, how to properly move the Ark, it should be carried by the poles inserted on each side. (2 Samuel 6:1-7, 12-15 and Exodus 25:10-15)
A good next step for many of us is to find a reading plan, a small 3 day or 5 day devotional using the Bible App on your phone, or look for a Bible in a Year/New Testament in a year Bible. The studies from UNCOMMEN, have been good thought provoking short sessions. These are only 5-6 day commitments at a time. If you miss a few days, you can catch up, or just pick it back up. Taking small steps and making small changes will build the habits that lead to a change in how you handle all things in your life.
Take time over the next few weeks, find a study to do, and do it. Make time for God, make time for your family, make time for your wife. Move things out of the way and get yourself on paper. Get to where you have some idea of you stand, where you are aiming, where you are going. From there you can start making the corrections and building the habits that I’ll talk about next time, when we talk about groupings and consistency.
—Cory