“Seven Deacons and the Pastor got saved, and twenty-five thousand dollars got raised, and fifty volunteered for missions in the Congo on the spot. Even without an invitation, there were about 500 rededications, and we all got re-baptized, whether we needed it or not” Ray Stevens

Funny Song. It’s about how a squirrel went berserk in the first up-righteous church. Confession and repentance were the result… with a tinge of rededication.

I sometimes feel as though my soul is the sleepy little town that has forgotten what real faith looks like. Words like up-righteous, self-righteous, indignation, self-pity, laziness, condemnation, fear, control… seem to be much more descriptive of me than the picture of love that should be my image.

Being a closet existentialist, I struggle to believe a truth that doesn’t feel true. The guarantee of God’s goodness to me, the reality of His transforming presence in me, the surety of His love, all these things can be fleeting doctrines with little meaning.

Or…..is that just the loud voice of a determined enemy? The war is real. My flesh tells me that these lies are true, that I am unacceptable. My joy is sapped, my vision clouds.

I can tell, sometimes, when I’m believing the lie. I get anxious, defensive, depressed, angry, critical, demanding, selfish…

And then the voice of a friend “joy begins with repentance”. It is here that true joy resonates in my life. Through repentance the Father’s song of delight is heard and faith comes; inseparable, unavoidable, Spirit-wrought.

G