Julie is now in her 32nd week of pregnancy and of all the things that we have prepared for one thing I didn't really see coming was nesting. Over the last 4 months or so, Jules has been organizing and reorganizing and prepping the house for our incoming little buddle of joy, and it has been an interesting sort of dance to witness and participate in. One area, she decided to get straight was my record collection, which over the past year has grown to 60 volumes. Her solution was to get two crate-like boxes and make alphabet tabs to help me keep them in their right place, and to be honest... I love it! It's such a great comfort to know exactly where everything from The Black Keys to The Rigtheous Brothers is located and to be able to put my hands on them easily.
This comfort reminded me of a passage in 1 Corinthians 14 where Paul is giving prescriptions for worship, and he says in verse 33 that "God is nota god of disorder but of peace..." and in verse 40 he tells us that everything should be done "decently and in order." Now, Paul uses something of God's very nature to make comments about worship, but I think we could take his line of thinking and apply it to all areas of our faith. Too often people try to exercise faith and develop with no real plan on how to do it. It's the willy-nilly approach to Christianity. But there's a problem with that... it doesn't work. I'm saying this from experience. If you really want to get good at anything, and that includes developing a deep and abiding faith, you need to get organized a develop some sort of plan. Why? Because when you falter, as we all do, you can go back to the plan and start again. There's comfort in organization... And God is not a god of disorder. (caveat - this is meant for those who understand they can't earn salvation, but want to grow in the salvation that God has graciously given through Christ Jesus.)
Helpful places to start your plan.
Bible reading and prayer - the two go hand-in-hand and serve to focus your day on serving the God who made you, regardless of your profession.
Community building - church attendance and groups is vital for accountability and encouragement and learning - because the Bible is not always so easy to understand
Service - make active Christian service a part of your routine. This helps keep a godly "don't think of yourself more highly than you ought..." perspective
