Bungled By A Biscuit

I cussed at our dog this morning for eating a biscuit off the kitchen counter.

I woke up late this morning, and chaos ensued in our home. We scrambled, we stumbled, we growled and hissed. My fifteen year-old stayed parked in the middle of my bathroom, gazing at herself in the mirror trying to decide whether the black boots matched the purple shirt. Or the tan one. Or whatever color it was. I was too busy trying to find socks and my other boot, while having to walk around her every time I had to walk through my bathroom. My five year-old said her sock felt weird and refused to put her boot on. My nine year-old daughter was outside singing Christmas carols to the dog while he pooped. My thirteen year-old…Lord have mercy…just get out of her way or you’ll get flattened. All I could see was the tails of her shirt flappin’ as she steamrolled around the house.

Lunches thrown together, haphazardly packed into lunch bags…where’s the pop tarts?...who ate all the sausage biscuits, there are only three left?...Lord help me this ship is sinking…thank God my Momma is doing my five year-old’s hair…thank you Momma…don’t forget to take the sausage biscuits out of the microwave and put them on the counter…Rebekah, PUT ON YOUR SHOES CHILD…girls, we gotta go, y’all gonna be late…go get in the car, I’ll bring you the sausage biscu…….

The dog and the biscuits and the sausage and a thousand pieces of paper towel trailed through the kitchen and dining room. And I lost it. Obscenities flowed forth from my mouth, and the old me came forth with gusto like a well-worn glove. Thankfully, my babies were already outside. As soon as I dropped them off at school, I began to cry and worship God all the way to the feed store to get horse food, “I’m sorry God, I need You, I love You…” As I cried, I told Him, “I am so glad that You are a God Who does the work in me that needs to be done, because I can’t. You are the only One Who can make me right.”

In that moment, the weight of the reality of our helpless estate was so real to me. We cannot save ourselves, we cannot be good, we cannot fix ourselves or improve ourselves or live up to God’s holy standards in our own strength. That is why Scripture tells us that faith in Jesus Christ makes us a new creature (2 Cor 5:17). That is why Scripture teaches that the “old you” is dead (Rom 6:4-6). That doesn’t mean that it won’t rear its ugly head sometimes, but beloved, our spiritual truth is that we need what Jesus did on the cross. We need to embrace that death and become one with it. We need to set our eyes on it as He makes the truth of it real in us. Because He is the only one Who can.

I am so glad that He is a God Who can take a heart burdened with longing for righteousness and holiness and make it so. I am so glad that He is able when I am not (Phil 4:13). I am so glad that He purchased me with His own blood (1 Pet 1:18,19), and that He is faithful to finish the work He has begun in me (Phil 1:6). I need a God like that. And so do you.

(Romans 7:22-25) For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!…

(1 Cor 1:17,18) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

(Ezekiel 36:25-27) …I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from you and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances.

(Gal 2:21) I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

(Titus 2:11-14) For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

(Posted on Facebook 12/7/2020 Talitha Koum