Cultivate the hold

Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. (Deuteronomy 13:4)

I have heard it said that only God's ever-present presence can truly change a person's life. All other change is fleeting. As much as we'd like to think we are capable of changing our course all on our own, the struggle against will and emotion can be daunting. When we choose rather to serve God and him alone, we might find there is still a little struggle with our own desires, but the 'will' to choose a correct course isn't all within our own strength. We tap into the supernatural strength of Jesus within.

Over the years, I have used many of these clear plastic wraps for supposedly keeping things in the fridge from spilling or spoiling. Some are rather poor quality, saying they will 'hold tight', but falling short. Others are very good at holding the contents in, gripping firmly to the bowl and preserving the food inside. "CLING" matters, doesn't it? Especially when we want to 'preserve' something. If we want to preserve our freedom from sin's hold over us, we need to 'cling' to Jesus. If we are still holding onto this world with all our might, then the 'quality' of our 'cling' may be 'subpar', just like that flimsy cling wrap that didn't do the job. 

Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. Three very specific commands. Obedience is paramount to developing a good 'cling' spiritually. When we lay down our will and do as we are instructed in his Word, we find the 'contents' of our life are less likely to be subject to the influence of the things that try to steal our 'freshness' and 'stability'. As we pay attention to what he tells us, both in his written word and in times when he speaks to us through prayer or worship, we find the 'cling' gets a little tighter. The influences that once exerted so much power over us are no longer exerting that power.

God's presence is like the 'cling wrap' - it covers us, protecting us from harmful influence and decay. The deeper we come into his presence, the more we realize his protective covering is right there. We don't always 'see' his presence, but we certainly feel the influence of it, don't we? Isn't it about time that we do all we can to cultivate and allow that 'tight hold' in our lives that ensures what needs to stay out of our lives does? Just askin...