Although I have had an
iPhone for nearly two years, I continue to struggle with the touchscreen. It
seems the longer I have the phone, the more often I need to go back and correct
misspellings.
What I have just realized is that the auto-correct feature on the phone seems to have gotten used to my misspellings! It appears to me that the phone has “learned” that these misspelled words are legitimate so it keeps suggesting them as the right word to use. “Where did this gibberish come from?” I mutter to myself as I keep trying to type in the correct spelling of the word I want to use. Then, I realize the phone keeps making the same mistakes I have made over and over earlier!
This is a reminder that we often make the same mistakes over and over. It is not unusual for us to have not only physical weaknesses but spiritual weak spots. For some of us it is the need to be in control. For others it is the need to have power or be successful. For others it is an addiction to alcohol or pornography or drugs or money. For some it is a tongue that is eager to gossip and for others it is inappropriate anger. For some it is the need for constant change and for others it is the demand that things stay the same.
The same issues, the same temptations, the same weaknesses, keep tripping us up.
What does this mean?
First, be slow to judge others (Romans 2) because we each have our own issues…our own sin.
Second, we have been justified or forgiven by God in Christ (Romans 5). We don’t have to carry around the shame or guilt of past sin (or misspellings).
Third, we need to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice every day (Romans 12) as we make a decision to (Romans 6:4) “walk in newness of life.” At some point we make a decision that we don’t want to keep replaying the same old craziness…sin.
Fourth, don’t do life on your own but have people around you who you can trust to love you and speak the truth to you (Romans 12 says we are like members of one body). In Romans 15:14 Paul says that there are those who are “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct” us.
I am spiritually weak or vulnerable in certain ways and places.
Like the auto correct feature on the phone, I am tempted to make the same mistakes over and over again.
God, though, has a better idea!
In Christ and for Christ,
Mark
Note: We continue to work to adjust to the reduction of our staff from three full-time ordained Elders (pastors) to two. Please be patient with us as we look for new, faithful and creative ways to provide leadership (often turning to lay leaders to do what a clergyperson has done).
What I have just realized is that the auto-correct feature on the phone seems to have gotten used to my misspellings! It appears to me that the phone has “learned” that these misspelled words are legitimate so it keeps suggesting them as the right word to use. “Where did this gibberish come from?” I mutter to myself as I keep trying to type in the correct spelling of the word I want to use. Then, I realize the phone keeps making the same mistakes I have made over and over earlier!
This is a reminder that we often make the same mistakes over and over. It is not unusual for us to have not only physical weaknesses but spiritual weak spots. For some of us it is the need to be in control. For others it is the need to have power or be successful. For others it is an addiction to alcohol or pornography or drugs or money. For some it is a tongue that is eager to gossip and for others it is inappropriate anger. For some it is the need for constant change and for others it is the demand that things stay the same.
The same issues, the same temptations, the same weaknesses, keep tripping us up.
What does this mean?
First, be slow to judge others (Romans 2) because we each have our own issues…our own sin.
Second, we have been justified or forgiven by God in Christ (Romans 5). We don’t have to carry around the shame or guilt of past sin (or misspellings).
Third, we need to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice every day (Romans 12) as we make a decision to (Romans 6:4) “walk in newness of life.” At some point we make a decision that we don’t want to keep replaying the same old craziness…sin.
Fourth, don’t do life on your own but have people around you who you can trust to love you and speak the truth to you (Romans 12 says we are like members of one body). In Romans 15:14 Paul says that there are those who are “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct” us.
I am spiritually weak or vulnerable in certain ways and places.
Like the auto correct feature on the phone, I am tempted to make the same mistakes over and over again.
God, though, has a better idea!
In Christ and for Christ,
Mark
Note: We continue to work to adjust to the reduction of our staff from three full-time ordained Elders (pastors) to two. Please be patient with us as we look for new, faithful and creative ways to provide leadership (often turning to lay leaders to do what a clergyperson has done).
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