general maintenance - a good thing ...

I defragged the hard drive, used registry cleaner (thank you Kim Komando), etc., on this little computer yesterday, and it's just FLYING today. These things need to happen more often! :)

Went to the gym yesterday and batted a racquetball around for a while. I'm starting to get a bit more consistent with it, and maybe I'll play with an actual person one day soon. :) Also lifted weights afterwards.

I was reading last night in Joshua 22. Israel had taken control of the land (more or less) and each tribe was going back to their parcel of territory. The two and a half tribes who had land on the east side of the Jordan had gone home, and built an altar on the other side of the river. God had commanded that He wanted to be worshipped in Jerusalem ... so to build a place of worship there was a "very bad thing." (It almost seems to me that they didn't build it for worship, but rather as some kind of memorial ... but I don't remember reading that last night ... either I missed it this time, or misunderstood something last time ... gotta read again and figure that out.)

The other tribes saw this happening and confronted them. Sin within the group had already had disasterous results in the past, and they wanted to protect against it this time.

In our postmodern culture, it is VERY hard to tell someone they're wrong. We've been fed the fallacy that there are many truths, and what is true for one person may not be true for another. I am a big fan of openness and inclusiveness in some areas ... but there are a few where we need to not be so open!

It's not loving for me to see a brother or sister in sin, and ignore it. And it's not loving for someone to see me in sin and ignore it. We're supposed to have each other's best interests (and the best interests of God's kingdom and glory) in mind ... and that means there are times when we need each other's help to forsake the old and put on the new.

22:19 says, "‘If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, then cross into the land of the possession of the LORD, where the LORD’S tabernacle stands, and take possession among us. Only do not rebel against the LORD, or rebel against us by building an altar for yourselves, besides the altar of the LORD our God."

They were so concerned that their brothers seek after God, that they offered to give up part of their own inheritance, to make a place where they could live closer to the temple. Am I so passionate about the Lord, and His people, that I joyfully sacrifice my own interests for their good?

Trinka