A REAL-LIFE SOAP OPERA
Today's reading: 1 Kings 10-13

A change in schedule allowed me to be home earlier than usual last week, just in time to catch a few minutes of a soap opera I watched years and years ago.

In the fifteen-plus years since I'd watched it, nothing had changed. The main characters remained the same, the plot was unchanged and the get-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat ending was just a segue into tomorrow's episode. Little value was placed on marriage, the importance and far-reaching price of fidelity and faithfulness.

I'm so glad I don't watch them anymore. I don't need any additional help in wandering from my faith or having seeds of evil planted in this little brain. You see, I live my own real-life soap opera. It's true. On a daily basis, I allow my vows to God to be bent and forgotten. I have to spend time each day repenting of things that have drawn me away from my first love.

Sorry thing is, I'm in good company.

"He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. And sure enough, they led his heart away from the Lord." 1 Kings 11:3

Solomon was distracted. Not by his wealth or his wisdom, but by the ladies. He allowed the gals to draw his heart away from God--and the kingdom suffered because of it.

It happens to me, too. When my schedule becomes my lover? When my abilities surpass my expectations and I believe to trust in what I can do? When things I've turned over to God seem to be going no where and I think I can 'move' them along? When what I want is not in His plan for me? When my old nature rears its ugly head and my new nature is distracted?

I'm glad I caught a glimpse of the soaps, reminded me of just how glad I am not to have that distraction in my day. Now to work on the other thousand or so things that get in the way of my relationship with God!