“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” Rev 3:19

Having not seen my daughter and her family in a while, we opted for a drive and a visit. Walking into the foyer there was a huge string of balloons, tape on the floor and boxes positioned like some jungle gym. The isolation from the Covid 19 thing had turned their creativity up to ‘extravagant!’ My grandson grabbed my hand and excitedly dragged me to the boxes.

One of the boxes had been turned on its side and plastic cups hung from the top in a homemade shooting range. I was handed a Nerf Gun and, just that fast, it was game on. Even though it was only a toy, every shot hit a cup, making me feel pretty good…from about 6 feet! I reloaded and backed up to about 15 feet! But the results were not the same!

Now I don’t know if it was expectation, determination or just plain competitiveness with myself, but I was slightly disappointed! So, silly me, I loaded up again! And got the same results! It was only THEN that I reminded myself that ‘THIS IS A TOY!’ A Nerf gun is not made for accuracy… but for FUN! Even though I was taking serious aim, it was not possible to be perfect. Then a thought hit me!

“Why do I sometimes take things that AREN’T serious…so seriously? And why do I leave some things that ARE serious… completely unattended to? In His own playful way, I knew Jesus was trying to tell me something. This morning’s devotional confirmed it.

Oswald Chambers said, in his book, ‘My Utmost for His Highest,’ “Get alone with Jesus and either tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you – or else tell Him that at all costs you want to be identified with His death.” In other words, either turn around and take Jesus and His work in you seriously, or completely walk away from His disciplining hand. But BE SERIOUS about one or the other!

I am a human. And humans LOVE to have their cake and eat it to. ‘I’ like to pick the things ‘I’ want to work on…or not! Which really makes me ‘my’ own ‘god’ most of the time. Which can make my Heavenly Father irritable. There are things He wants to work on in my life that I seriously do NOT want to take seriously. Today He is telling me to quit playing around and take aim at a target HE is pointing to. Because Life is NOT a game!