SEPTEMBER 7, 2025

  “Another characteristic of human nature—perhaps the one that makes us most human—is our capacity to do the unnatural, to transcend and hence transform our own nature.” 

― M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

PROVERBS 11-12

16Fools show their annoyance at once,

but the prudent overlook an insult. (12:16)

1CORINTHIANS 15:33-58

58Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

JOURNAL 

I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to drift without realizing it. The slips in my life aren’t usually the obvious ones. It’s not outright rebellion or some overt collapse, but rather the subtle habits, the unexamined reactions, the quiet ways I let comfort or self-protection dictate my choices. Over time those subtle decisions can accumulate, and then one day I wake up and realize I’ve wandered far from the bold, confident life of faith I claim to believe in.

I see it most clearly in my emotions and reactions. They are often shaped by patterns I picked up years ago, rooted in survival, especially emotional survival. What once helped me cope as a child can still drive my responses today if I’m not paying attention. Those ingrained instincts, left unchecked, pull me toward timidity...toward hiding, hesitating, or softening what I know God has revealed to me.

Scripture reminds me that immaturity clings to childish ways of thinking and reacting, while growth calls for something different: to put those ways aside and step into the maturity of faith, hope, and love. Wisdom, too, speaks to the discipline of overlooking insults and choosing restraint over impulsive reactions. Paul’s words about standing firm echo in the background...this call to stability, to giving myself fully to God’s work with the confidence that it is never wasted.

I can feel the difference when I let those subtle drifts shape me. My faith grows quieter, less alive, more about words than action. And yet the Spirit reminds me that God hasn’t given me fear or hesitation, but strength, love, and self-discipline. The small compromises reveal how much I need Him daily, because left alone I will inevitably slide into the easier patterns of self-interest.

Transformation, I’m learning, is rarely dramatic. More often it is found in the steady, unseen decisions: choosing patience, choosing truth, choosing love when no one else notices. These are the moments that anchor me in what I profess to believe. Without them, the drift continues. With them, little by little, my life becomes a reflection of the kingdom I claim to follow.

11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:11-13