Get up and move on

I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences. (Ephesians 4:2)

Devotion to God doesn't happen by accident - we have to actually 'get up' and 'move forward'. Two very specific actions that require more than just mental investment. They require movement on our part. To 'get up' one has to actually stop sitting right where they are at - there must be a change in position. Too many times we think we will manifest change in our lives all while we are taking little to no action to see change occur. To 'move forward' means we have to put one foot in front of the other. There can be no good growth where there is stagnancy. Yes, there may be growth, but it is muck and mire, not good growth!

A few weeks ago, they drained the canals around us and we noticed many things at the bottom of the canal that had no business being in the canal. Street signs, grocery carts, pylons, furniture pieces, and lots of dirt or debris of some sort. While the canal was full, the murkiness of the water made it impossible to know those things were down there. The catfish and carp probably loved all those things they could hide in, but those things actually created obstructions in the canals. It was apparent to us that a 'clean out' was necessary. In one small section of the canal, many small fish were busy growing, but due to the lack of water flow through that area, they all died in the murkiness of the stagnant waters.

That is the problem with stagnancy - it leads to us getting filled up with things that actually bring death, not life. We need the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives - the Word of God getting into places within us that would otherwise be untouched and unnoticed. We need 'movement' in order to see growth! The things that 'don't belong' are only exposed when there is a full 'clean out' of those areas - that may mean we stop totally, allow the clean-up to occur, then allow ourselves to be filled again. 'Sitting around' is the worst thing we can do. We only see life flourish when we are moving without all those 'obstacles' in our path - those obstacles are removed in times of purposeful 'clean-up'.

We may not be moving very well on the path God has called us to be on right now. Perhaps it is time we need to ask God to 'drain us' of the murkiness that has surrounded our lives and remove those obstacles that impede the flow of the Holy Spirit within us. Maybe we just need to get up from where we are and take the first step on the path we know God is asking us to travel. In humility, we need to ask for God's 'clean-up' and in discipline we need to act upon the truth we know God has shown us. Just sayin!