Read the comments by Michael and Kathie on the post before last; their comments prompted me to mention this:

Lately, the subject of my complacency has been heavy on my heart; a recent encounter illustrated quite clearly to me the simple fact that I have become far too comfortable to be of much service to Jesus. Earlier this week, I noticed a copy of The One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven by Mark Cahill, and one of his opening statements was to the effect of: "What have you done with your life that will matter 300,000 years from now?" I thoroughly love looking at the trees and the ivy around our apartment building, the beautiful blue late summer-autumn sky, and take joy in them, but do I take the same kind of joy in other human beings, God's prized creations? I indulge in the kind of pleasures that I'm certain will have their mirror (if not their superior) in Heaven, but what work do I do while the harvest is ripe?

On Sunday, our pastor spoke about being a slave to sin or to righteousness. Either way, the question is, what controls you? I think I've allowed numerous things to control me that, in the proper moderation/priority, aren't necessarily sinful things. But I've let them become idols. It's a difficult prospect to overcome one's addictions, and an addiction to entertainment and comfort especially so. Yet the examples of Jesus and all of the apostles demonstrate a life of effort, of labor, of risk and hardship. God has pleasures for us, both in this life and the next, but there is also work to be done. I suspect also that there are pleasures He intended that I'm missing because I haven't been doing the work.

There's a book at the Christian bookstore where I work called American Idols, talking about the various things we in the American Church have allowed to become idols in our lives, taking the place of God. A quick glance through it was all I needed to feel the guilt creeping in... The other one I happened to look at was Playstation Nation - a parenting book advising that kids and video game platforms shouldn't mix, in a large part due to addictive behavior.

I'm sensing a theme this week, Lord...