Lessons from the Woodshed—Idolatry

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 6:1

Whether then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
I Corinthians 10:31

My pastor refers to being in the place of receiving discipline from God as being taken to the woodshed. Culminating with the NWC last weekend, I was in the woodshed for more than two weeks, and I took quite a whipping.

Generally speaking, God showed me the extent of my problem with submission. I had no idea it was THAT BAD. Please understand, I am not one of those people who is deluded. “My sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3), and I usually take exhortation well because there ain’t nothin you can tell me about myself that I don’t already know. However, three weeks ago today, a dear friend sent me to the woodshed on God’s behalf, and if I have indeed emerged, I am now in what will probably be a long period of recovery.

Prior to entering the woodshed, I had been convicted about the place of Logoscentric in my life. I would have days where I spent a reasonable amount of time on the computer, and I would have days wherein many hours were spent reading and writing and tweaking and linking. In the woodshed, God provided the clarity that only the woodshed can provide: Logoscentric had become an idol.

Not only had my blog become an idol in my priorities, but I had become preoccupied with increasing readers and pleasing my “audience” rather than doing the thing for God’s glory. It’s not to God’s glory to write some insignificant blog post at the expense of one’s husband and children.

So in the woodshed, when I came face to face with my pride, my misplaced priorities, and the futility of my pursuits, I did what anyone truly desiring to please God would do, I offered to give Logoscentric up. COMPLETELY. “Lord, I will click on the delete button, if that is what you want me to do. Just say the word.”

Some of you may be thinking, Katy, how can you know if God is telling you to delete your blog? How do you know you’re not just talking to yourself, or that it’s not Satan wanting you to give it up? Believe me, once you’ve been in “sold out” mode long enough, you’ll know when God is communicating to you. He is not subtle.

So far the word has not been to give up Logoscentric (no pun intended), but to prioritize it appropriately. I also have been impressed with the need to be more intentional with what I am doing here, but I haven’t determined any specific direction yet. I would love feedback from you as God directs you to give it.

More lessons from the woodshed are to come.