Red Bird Devotions #9

Pillow Talk

One day, when Shay was three years old, she asked to sleep in my bedroom for her nap.  Because she was normally a very obedient child, I say yes...with a warning; I told her that she could not play with the radio on Dad's side of the bed because if it fell off, it might get broken.  Knowing that she might be tempted to roll around the big bed and play with things that were off limits to her toddler hands, I reminded her as I left the room, "Just lay still in one spot and go to sleep. And remember, no messing with the radio."  I heard her soft, "Okay Mommy" as I closed the door.

When I peeked in to check on her in about 20 minutes, I saw her laying very still--and awake--on the side of the bed opposite the radio.  However, when I glanced over to Brent's side, I saw a mound of pillows piled upon the clock radio and heard a faint mumble of a man's voice underneath.  When I asked her what she had done with the pillows, she innocently said, "I couldn't get that man to stop talking." 

If you haven't figured it out yet, the "man" that Shay wanted to muffle was a disc jockey on the radio.  The DJ was "talking" because Shay had disobeyed my warning.  Shay had disobeyed my warning because she thought she could get away with "doing what she wanted." Because her plan didn't work out and the "man" made her bad decision obvious, she tried to cover it up the offending voices. It seems so very naive, to think that one could remove the consequences of their actions with a mound of pillows. But, since three-year-olds are naive, I told her that I knew she had disobeyed me, and I took her to her own bed.  

We do that too, you know.  We disobey God's warnings about our speech or our thoughts or about thinking too highly of ourselves, and we gossip about our friend or we judge someone unlike us or we gather glory for ourselves instead of God. Then we naively  "cover" our missteps by calling our gossip "concern," and our judgement "critique," and our glory-stealing "ambition." We think we can get away with doing what we want--and what seems to come so naturally--because God's way is just too hard.  But God calls these offenses sin: silly "pillow talk."  He has enabled us to obey; 2nd Peter 1:3 says that God's Spirit within us "has given us everything we need for life and godliness."  And 2nd Timothy 1:7 promises "the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." And 1st John 5:3 explains, "this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome."

Sin is an offense against God.  We need confess it. We have the power to resist it through Jesus.  We need to practice it. God's ways are best for us.  We need to believe it.

Your Abba is speaking. Will you listen?

"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." 

Titus 2:11-14