Pepcid Words

Have you ever listened to a sermon or read a devotion or came across a verse in scripture that really grabbed you? You know what I mean, the kind of message that points out something ugly about yourself and then slaps you in the face with it?? Uh huh, you know what I’m talking about… Well I had one of those moments today with Oswald Chambers “My Utmost For His Highest.” Here is the link, just in case you’re in the mood for a good slapping.

I recently finished teaching a series of lessons on the New Testament book of James, which is one of the finest books in all of holy writ for going “ohh yeah, look at THAT ugliness!! And NOW you need to stop that and start doing THIS!” OUCH. A friend on Facebook asked me this week if I was still teaching on James and I replied, “No, I’m finished. They couldn’t take any more and neither could I.”

But, I’ve decided to spend the next couple of weeks blogging my James lessons so that I could remind myself (and you poor souls who read my stuff) about those lessons. You know… the whole “be DOERs and not just HEARERS” thing, so maybe we/I can grow a little more Christlike. But that is easier said than done, especially when you’re working on your stuff – bad habits, wrong thinking & attitudes, careless speech… so I have officially coined those kinds of messages “Pepcid Words” because confronting your ugliness and working on your stuff will give you heartburn and you’ll need a Pepcid… and as my friend Adean told me, “Honey, you’re gonna need Rolaids too!”

I have a friend who has a clever catch-phrase that he uses when he deals out a Pepcid Word: “Don’t ya just LOVE it?” To which I would like to say, “NO, I do NOT just love it!” Just like I don’t LOVE doing core exercises in the morning! Planks and wall-sits are HARD and they HURT! But they produce muscles that are lean and strong, and I DO love THAT. And I DO love the end-result of what God’s Word does in my life, so while I don’t necessarily love the process, I love the product. And God’s Word backs me up on this in Heb 12:11 (I love the Message translation), “At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.”

So you’ve been warned. The Pepcid Words start next week, so stock your medicine chest and you better have some Rolaids as a back-up. Fruit-flavored Tums are good too :) And feel free to leave comments so we can learn from each other, which is the old “iron sharpening iron” from Proverbs 27:17…

PS – Thanks for the prayers for Scott. We got him moved in and he seems to be doing well from what we can tell from the infrequent calls and occasional text messages. It reminds me of a funny bit by the comedian Sinbad, who finally contacted his parents only because he had an empty bank account and wrote “Dear Dad, No mon. No fun. Your son.” and received back “Dear son, Too bad. So sad. Your Dad.” We can relate :)