Happy Reformation Day!

Okay, so today is Halloween. I don't know if your family "celebrates" this day or not, and my personal opinion is that whether one "does" Halloween or not is a matter of Christian liberty. I won't make fun of you for abstaining, and you don't condemn me for dressing my girls up like fairy princesses and taking them door to door for candy. As far as I can tell, fairy princesses are cute, candy is a gift from God, talking to my neighbors is a good thing, and if any of that pleases Satan, he's a bigger idiot than I thought he was.
But anyways . . . ;-)

Bottom line: Every day is the day the LORD has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24). God owns every day. The devil owns none.

Today is also Reformation Day. On October 31, 1517 a hacked off Augustinian monk traipsed to the Wittenburg chapel and nailed a notebook to the door. The hacked off monk was Martin Luther, and the notebook was his now famous "95 Theses," which were mainly a list of grievances about how the Church was selling salvation to people willing to pay for it, but which ended up lighting the fuse on the Protestant Reformation.

You may not think that's a big deal, but if you believe in salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and you attend a church that lets you believe that, you have an irrascible, constipated, beer-drinking, foul-mouthed monk to thank for that. And God for creating him.

On this Reformation Day, the 559th anniversary of the posting of Luther's diatribe, why not think about reformation in your own life? What parts of your heart and mind need a spiritual revolution? Where do you feel God most at work in your life? Maybe there's a relationship you need to mend; maybe there's a sin or bad habit you need to ditch for good; maybe there's some spiritual discipline (prayer, Bible study, worship, etc.) you ought to undertake more deliberately. Nail a resolution to reform on that area of your life.

Luther was obviously marked for death once he left the reservation (so to speak). At one of his trials he was ordered to recant his belief in justification by faith, and facing death, he could not violate his conscience. "Here I stand," he said. "I cannot do otherwise."
Pick your battle. Tell Satan and your "old man" that they don't own you or this day or you on any day. Speak to Jesus and into your own life the words of commitment, "By the grace of God, here I stand. I cannot do otherwise." And just see if the spirit of repentance fully embraced doesn't bring a spirit of renewal and reformation in that area of your life.

Peace