writings and musings

i've undertaken a writing project... one that can easily consume all my time and attention in the blink of an eye. on the other hand, this writing project is easily ignored and neglected with every ounce of energy i can muster.

i've committed myself to writing for at least an hour a week on the topic, in hopes that i can pull my thoughts together in a cohesive manner that others have a chance of understanding...

topic: church discipline (henceforth referred to as c.d.). i figure i am so intimately acquainted with the experience, it would be beneficial to write about it. i've been working on this for... several months now, actually. i have a very rough outline and a few paragraphs written; two little stories about my personal experience with c.d. with another on the forefront of my mind; and a lot of thoughts that connect and intersect in the most interesting of ways.

the biggest conviction i have on the topic, if you will, is this: if the church did not go the lengths it did in pursuing me via church discipline i may have never come back to a meaningful relationship with the Lord. it has nothing to do with the church i attend or the friends i keep; it has everything to do with working out my salvation with fear and trembling and knowing Him aright. it is not a depressing, discouraging topic to study either!

there is so much glory and praise found within this topic, it amazes me! the more i study the more i learn about how necessary discipline is--that we, as children of God, are disciplined when we go astray, and how we must discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness. if you are not disciplined, it means God does not love you. how can that be anything but an encouragement, to know that God loves you enough to discipline and correct you? He easily could allow you to experience the depth of your sin and give you over to satan--i don't know if, in this day and age, we know how scary that thought truly is to behold. ::shudder::

so, if anyone actually reads this blog for some reason other than boredom (or even in spite of boredom), please comment... let me know what your thoughts on the topic are, what your major problems/questions/concerns are with c.d., anything that you think another would find helpful if reading a little treatise on the topic... and, not to mention, ask me about it... nothing like accountability when trying to write!! :)