"The devil is in the details"

This Sunday morning, Kanez taught class for us. One of the more brilliant facts is that Kirsten asked him to teach. That is really cool on multiple levels, not the least of which is that she totally felt comfortable in deciding this without "checking up". So if you ever hear about the "college class" at Westover, it really is the college student's class.

Kanez expounded from Psalms 26. He moved us though David's thoughts on walking with God, and not just his rejection of strolling with the wicked, but an all out hatred of those deeds. We postulated, "How do we get to that point" because it's not so simple. Being surrounded by temptation, slipping into evil isn't hard. A book on economics and trends, The Tipping Point, describes in detail how doing the little things, when seen together, make the difference. And this is the way our lives are lived. Small decisions. Incremental steps. As we've been reading in The Screwtape Letters, it's those small thoughts, often placed by a tempter, that we allow to get a foothold that start the seeds of sin.

In ancient literature, authors did not grapple with a person's thought processes, but simply reported on their actions. The reader was expected to determine the "why". We must probe ourselves to determine the "why" for our own decisions! As Christ said on the Sermon on the Mount, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

As Screwtape himself would tell us, "The devil is in the details". But then, so is the Spirit.