Too Much of a Good Thing

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of of rebirth and through renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Christ Jesus our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having hope of eternal life...I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good..."

~Titus 3:4-8

What does that mean to do devote ourselves to doing what is good? Is going to church good? Is volunteering for nursery duty and to teach Sunday School and to go to choir, good? How about how you raise your family or how you handle yourself in the grocery store.

How is your relationship with Christ? Are you too busy DOING to have time for the One who "poured out on us generously" and "saved us because of His mercy"? The world tells us to to DO, DO, DO, but are you just struggling to keep your head above water? If you are....you are DOING too much.

God doesn't want us to live gasping for air, He wants us to live in His shadow, doing good works that HE prepared in advance for us to do...not things we THINK we have to do just because others expects us to. There is a big difference. I think so often we see a need somewhere and think we are the ones who have to fill that need and we never once ask God if He wants us to or not. Maybe He planned for someone one else to do that good thing, but now we robbed them of it just because we figured we could do it.

Someone once told me to "Keep the main thing-the main thing". What is the "main thing" in your life right now? Mine is homeschooling and raising my small children. It won't always be my "main thing", but for right now that's it. To do anything that interferes with that, would be wrong.

Lately my husband and I have been, not arguing I'd say, but maybe disagreeing is a better word. I have a bad habit of trying to "fill those holes" when it seems no one else will. A few "hole filling" occasions have come up and when I ask Wesley's opinion of whether I should volunteer or not he says without hesitation, "No! Absolutely not!" and I get angry. Why? Because I know he's right and it makes me mad! He reminds me over and over what my "main thing is" and reminds me I have a full plate right now before I even step out the door. Now does that mean I can sit and be idle, using my children as an excuse to not do ANYTHING? No...it just means I need to pick and choose what I do and not try to do everything..

My good friend Victoria always reminds me to "get under my husbands umbrella!" What does that mean? God is over all of us, with a huge umbrella, then our husbands are under that, with a smaller umbrella protecting us. We are to follow their lead, their spiritual guidance and direction. They will have a lot more to answer to when they get to heaven. Whenever I am unsure of something, I ask Wesley and I'm learning to let go and to get under my husbands umbrella-under his hedge of protection from this world and often from myself!

I have to remind myself that anything-even volunteering for church things, can be a burden. I must constantly ask Him, Is this a good thing? Satan can so often use church to make us resentful and angry. Just remember, we are saved by grace-not because of anything we have done or are doing. So...keep the main thing, the main thing and learn to live under your husband's umbrella. If you are a husband-make sure you stay under God's umbrella! So next time you are asked to do something-before you jump in and fill that good thing, stop, step back and ask Him-is this what YOU want me to do?