Full Disclosure

You know, I got to thinking the other day about some of the stuff I've written of late. Okay, perhaps a lot of it. Okay, perhaps more than just "of late". I got to thinking that it might be pretty easy to read this stuff and think, "Wow, this guy has it all together." Okay, not quite that. I mean, clearly there is a sizeable segment who would say I'm wrong. But the idea that what I write is who I am. Or, at least, who I claim to be. Whether or not you agree with me, you've might conclude that I believe I've got the question of "fair" down, that I'm a good Christian man and a good parent and good husband, that I am a committed church-goer and pretty good at properly interacting with people. Like "After he wrote that piece on the Great Commission and how we're all supposed to do it, he must be a missionary or something." At least in my own mind. That sort of thing. I mean, sure, you wouldn't think I was perfect or even right, but you'd be fairly sure that I've got all this stuff pretty clear in my head and in my life.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I would like to clear that whole notion up. Here's how it works. I read something in Scripture or hear it or read it from someone else or think about something and more often than not the Holy Spirit comes around and, while enlightening me on the idea, convicts me. It's not that I've figured it out. I'm not that smart. It's not that I've arrived at what I claim to be the right way. I'm not that good. So I just tell you what God is telling me on the off chance that you and I might walk together down this long path of becoming sanctified, of becoming "conformed to the image of His Son." A good part of the time that I'm telling you I think you need to work on something it's because I need to work on it and thought I'm not likely alone in that.

Just so you're clear on this. Like Paul, "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." (Phil 3:12) Thought someone might need to know this.