Auto-Correct

     One of the many things that have changed BoC (Because of Covid) is that our ladies prayer time meets in person one week and by text the next. We decided this based on accelerating infection rates in our community and the advanced age of most of our group. I was skeptical of texting our prayers at first, but discovered God is more adaptable than I give Him credit for. Not only is the fellowship still sweet but, because we don't spend half of the prayer time updating our requests, I have more time to actually pray. However, there are always a few texting errors that come through and make some of the prayers more confusing than others. 1 Cor. 14:33 says, "God is not the author of confusion", but auto-correct is! Monday, auto-correct or a "textical difficulty" turned a prayer to give a couple who just moved, friends who love the Lord into friends who live the Lord. 

    I have been pondering that ever since. Every genuine Christian loves the Lord, but not all Christians live the Lord. Not that any of us do that very well. Our recent family camp teaching on the Beatitudes made that abundantly clear. But I was reminded of a question in a study a few years ago that asked--How has your spiritual life changed in the past 10 years? Mine has changed profoundly, mostly because of the trial of our son's alcoholism. I needed specific guidance and encouragement from Christ and He provided it. Not verbal, of course, (I would have a heart attack and die if God spoke to me out loud) but words impressed in my mind that I know did not come from me. To unbelievers, and even some Christians, this would sound crazy. Fortunately, there is an objective means to verify if these messages are from the Spirit--does it agree with the Bible? Unfortunately, the person I was sharing the study with said their spiritual life had not really changed in 10 years and, from what I could observe externally (no one can know anothers' heart), I was inclined to agree. 

    I guess that is what I was thinking of as the difference between loving the Lord and living the Lord. Am I growing more like Christ through the years? Do I love Him out of habit, like an old married couple, or out of desire, like a newlywed? Does my faith in Christ increasingly change the way I view life? behave? and especially, speak? I wish the Christian life came with an easy auto-correct function, that would be way faster than the one-sin-at-a-time method the Holy Spirit uses. But this is my official acceptance of the Auto-correct App. for Connie's spiritual I Phone. Not that He needs it, but God has my permission to auto-correct me any time He ought to.