Erase Before Starting

We have been recording our services at Community Lutheran Church in McAllister, WI since covid-19 hit. We don’t have the internet at church to record it live so I record it onto a SD card and from there, there is a process to get it on YouTube so that others can see. On service pretty much fills up the card, so we have to keep erasing it so that the next service can be recorded. We have a number of cards that we keep rotating. I have had times that I try to put the card in the camera and camera tells me that it won’t work. Sometimes the card doesn’t make the right contact, so I have to try several times to get it to connect properly. I did it once where I had three cards in my pocket that I brought from home. The first card didn’t work. I tried the second card and that failed too. The third card didn’t do any better. The fourth card, that was already at church, did the trick. I took the other three cards home and realized I had never erased them. To record, I need a clean slate... a new start... a removal of the past. This brings me to our walk with God. We cannot try to hang onto the “data” of the world and think that we can absorb what God wants us to know too. Adam and Eve tried that and failed miserably. This is where our surrender comes into play. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to remove the things of the past and of the world that we sometimes cling to so that we can be fully available for God. It sounds easy, but sadly, it is often much more of a challenge. We like to believe we have turned from the world only to find that it once again has control over us... maybe it is a bad habit, an addiction, or just a longing for what we should have left behind. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, God tells us not to look back, but we want to take a little peek. That didn’t work out well for Lot’s wife and usually it creates a problem for us as well. We read a number of times where God tells certain people to sell all they have, give it to the poor, and follow Him. Their love for money often became too great to walk away from. With the video, I can’t hang on to the past and still record the present. With our spiritual walk, we cannot hang onto the world and somehow think we are truly ready to follow God. We cannot serve both. It is like being married and flirting with a mistress. Lead us, Holy Spirit. Dear God, the world is filled with temptations, but none can compare to You. Help us to renew our desire for You each day. Amen