"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
I can report that my thought has been almost constantly with this fabulous subject, The Sermon on the Mount, even if my studying has roller-coastered through the year. And I can even report good results!
One ‘study aid’ that really made a big impact on me in the year was the famous book ‘The Greatest Thing in the World’ by Henry Drummond. A few months ago, I started really studying this work, in conjunction with the Bible and the Sermon on the Mount. I absolutely love the simple, practical guide to life that these give. Yet, putting the guidelines into practice is probably the biggest challenge of all. Even though I know how I should behave based on many readings of the Sermon on the Mount – the words of Drummond’s woke me up. They didn’t allow me to think ‘Oh that’s just the way I am,’ or ‘Oh but in this instance losing my temper might get the job done,’ or ‘Ah, but in that case my frustration/anger/impatience was justified,’ etc.
During this time, I had a wonderful experience. It was a Friday evening after a busy week at work, and I was looking forward to a carefree weekend. Then I received a surprise phone call from a fellow church friend. As the conversation progressed, tension seemed to mount at an alarming rate. Her feeling of being overloaded quickly spilled out into bizarre accusations against me. While I was on the phone, I was able to see this for what it was, not a personal attack but a friend needing love and support. I felt only love for this friend, and no temptation at all to react or even get into the picture by mounting a defense.
After a few minutes, the phone was put down in mid sentence with a crash. As I put the phone down at my end, feelings of distress washed over me, and then the battle started! Was I going to let this rob me of my God given equanimity? I so deeply wanted more equanimity! And was I even going to let feelings of self-righteousness sneak in and rob me of total healing? I tried to write a card to this friend straight away as I knew she needed comfort. But I couldn’t do it – I was too busy dwelling on the conversation. So I reached for ‘The Greatest Thing in the World’ and the Bible… and promised myself that I would not stop reading until healing had come. And of course it did. This was a very special moment. One of the aspects of character reformation I’ve been praying about is the ability not to dwell on error, and not to churn things over and over in my mind. I could then write the card, pop it straight round to her house, give her a very warm hug on Sunday, and reassure her that of course we were still friends.
I am also very grateful for the changes I can see in the way I behave at work and church. This has been a challenging year for lots of reasons, but whereas in the past I might have reacted with impatience, or harsh thoughts and words, these occasions are getting less and less. And as a result, it has been a year of immense progress in both work and church. Things I never dreamed I would be able to deal with, I have with God’s guidance and support.
THANK YOU for choosing a subject so simple, and yet so life-changing.