How's your girdle feeling?

That's a pretty funny topic seeing as I'm trying to get into shape... well any shape but round, square, rectangular and any of those that have more than three sides... My run? Went well thank you. Samuel and I are still going together. I am going to see his hockey game tonight, it's at the same time as Jacob's gymnastic so Moe and I are splitting the "team", I hope to see the improvement in his game because of the running. We did 5 minutes walking and 1 minute jogging. It felt good. We were able to pass the mid point today; that was exciting. It was not raining either so it didn't seem so dark out besides, there was a lot of traffic so the road was often lit. Ok... back to the girdle. "Girdle: The girdle is an indispensable article in the dress of an oriental : it has various uses ; but the principal one is to tuck up their long flowing vestments, that they may not incommode them in their work, or on a journey." I was reading in Jeremiah chapter 13 today and God asked Jeremiah to do a little experiment. God asked Jeremiah to get himself a linen girdle and put it on his loins then to bring it to the Euphrates, dig a hole then to put the girdle in it and cover it back up. "After many days", the Lord told him to go get the girdle out of the ground where he hid it. The girdle was "marred, it was profitable for nothing." This is what the Lord told Jeremiah after the experiment. "This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear." You know, this is not much more different for us today. The Lord really spoke to me about this. Questions I asked myself:

• am I refusing to hear God's word when He shows me something specific I need to address in my life?
• Do I direct my life in the desires of my heart instead of God's desires for me?
• Do I have things in my life that are more important to me than God?
• Do I make more effort to satisfy or please those more important things?
• Do I find rest, encouragement and glorify those more important things?

If so, I am as useful to God as that girdle would be to me if I was trying to do some work, going on a long journey or to battle and have that long robe wrapping itself around my ankles. I am profitable for nothing. You know, I have so times where God says (paraphrase), "Thumbs up girl! You're getting it, keep it up!" but if I'm honest to myself and especially before God, He often has to correct me, nudge me over a bit or just plain out rebuke me. Sometimes, the desires of my flesh become priority in my life and not God. God is so merciful! I can't begin to express how thankful I am that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and give me an opportunity to accept the Father's free gift of salvation. Without it, I would never have a chance to see my Father's face one day. To hug Jesus and tell Him how much I love Him. I would be cast into hell for eternity. I might not know as well as God knows "my frame", but I definitely I am not worthy as Jesus is, yet He's the one who paid the price. What a good God we have. Today, because the fashions have changed, we no longer wear girdles for the purpose it once had. We use belts but, looking at the statistics of overweight people, I would say we wear belts for the sake of fashion and not for its purpose. I think it's a mirror image of today's society. We have become so fat of ourselves and our own agenda that we think we don't need God. We only wear Him, His name that is... Christian, for "fashion" sake. The reality is, we are going to be unhealthy and die a slow and painful death, yet at a younger age than necessary. Just like our spiritual; we will be unhealthy therefore, producing no fruit (good works, and bringing others to Christ), and die a slow and painful death because life will be so boring, uneventful, a waste of time, and without God's hand of protection and blessings... then we'll die, come face to face with our Maker to answer, "as a saved person, my child, what have you done with the life I gave you?" The similarities between the experiment of the girdle and our choice of how we live is amazing! I want my Lord, God and Saviour to be as a girdle for me, purposeful, close and needed.