1 Peter 2:18-23

18 You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters. Do whatever they tell you – not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are harsh. 19 For God is pleased with you when for the sake of your conscience, you patiently endure unfair treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing what right and are patient beneath the blows, God is pleased with you. 21 This suffering is all part of what God has called you to do. Christ, who suffered for you, is your example. Follow in his steps. 22 He never sinned, and he never deceived anyone. 23 He did not retaliate when He was insulted. When he suffered, he did not threaten to get even. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.

I was challenged in a devotion the other day to rate myself in my faith using the ranks of military command. After a bit of easy research I found out that there several rankings from Private, to Corporal, to Sergeant to General, to Major, all the way up to the General, there were 19 rankings in all. I had no idea that there was such a chain of command in the military. Anyways it didn’t take me long to realized that I am still in boot camp. Boot camp is a disciplined period of time where you need to focus your attention on training to prepare yourself for battle. I feel as though I am not yet prepared for graduation to Private, even with all of the bible studying that I have been doing over the 3 months. Or maybe I am ready and I am just to humble to admit it.

The next days devotion talked about submission to authority. This is where 1 Peter 2:18-23 comes in. God always does things in his timing, not ours. This was perfect timing on Gods part. I have been dealing with some stuff at work that is unfair, unjust, and just plain not right. I was almost to a breaking point when God allowed me to rediscover this verse about submission. It opened my eyes to who I am. I am a servant of the Living God. God is my General, and I do his will, not mine. God commands us to submit to those in higher authority that we are weather they are right or not. It is Gods job to judge those who are wrong, not ours. That doesn’t mean that we can’t stand up for what is right, but we need to respect higher authority in the end. One day, we will all stand before God on our judgment day.

It is not our job to complain, because complaining never does anybody any good. If you are going to complain to anybody, complain to God first, and if you need to complain to a person, it should be to a very selective group of people whom you trust, these people would know God, and you should only complain to them looking for constructive feedback, as well as accountability.

Let me get of topic for just a moment to express an opinion. There are over 6 million Facebook users today. That is more that the population of the USA, even though less than 20% of the people on Facebook live here in our country. Anyways, I have 56 facebook friends, which is weird because I used to have 58, someone must have dropped me as friend. I cannot believe how many people use Facebook to complain. Facebook is a great tool, it has revolutionized the way we communicate to the world. It is meant to update statuses, and pictures, and videos of you and your family, it is not meant to be a complaining tool. People abuse that privilege way to much. I have a few friends that have almost 1000 friends. If you complaining to the wrong people, it can come back to haunt you. I know someone who lost a job from what he complained about on his Facebook. You never know who is listening, your information is not as secure as you may think. Use Facebook for its intended purpose, not to complain to the world. Instead of complaining about your problems, focus your energy on doing something about it.

Ok, that was my Facebook tangent, thanks for letting me vent. So my point is that we submit to God and his authority, and he commands us to submit to the authority of those higher than us, he will deal with those who abuse it in his own way in his own time. Please understand that I have a hard time with this verse, as well as submission to authority, but that devotion the other day was a great gentle reminder that we serve God not man.

On a final note totally off topic, I would like to tell you about a personal decision that Jane and I made last week. We are currently tithing about 6.5% of our income. We started out at 5% and we are slowly working our way to 10%. Our 10% date was going to be the first Sunday in January 2011, about a year form now. We had a 3 year plan. We decided to take a step of Faith, so on Sunday January 3rd 2010, a year early, we are going to start tithing a the full 10% of our annual income. The reason that this is such a huge step of faith is because we are going to be short about $200 a month. We have no idea where this extra $200 a month if going to come from, but we are trusting that God will provide. We are both a bit nervous, but we trust God. I tell you about this for encouragement and accountability. We won’t go back, it will 10% from here on out no exceptions, but like I have said before, I want people to know that I am striving to be the real deal, not just some self righteous Joe who is going through the motions, No, I am not perfect, and I never will be, but I sure am going to strive to be my best, not to look good for man, but to live for God the best that I can.

Ok, I have talked your ear out long enough, I can’t thank you all enough for all of your support and encouragement. I love you all.