Have I corrected for that?

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 7:21-25)

When I want this, I do that. Sound familiar? It is a real struggle for all of us. No one is without some struggle with wanting to do what is right and somehow struggling to 'hit' that mark. Don't miss what Paul is saying - the battle or struggle is really within our minds. Our hearts are sure we want to do what is right, but our minds get all muddled up in the temptation that is pulling us in the opposite direction. When I was in high school, I took an archery course. It taught me one thing - aiming for the bullseye didn't ensure I would actually hit it!

So many factors played into hitting that center mark. I might not have enough tension on the bow and the arrow would fall short of the target. I would be aiming a bit too low and miss the rings totally. I might adjust my aim to a bit higher and way overshoot the target. Even when I managed to get within the circles of the target, I frequently did not hit 'dead center'. I saw where I wanted it to go. I adjusted my tension to take the arrow the distance. I refocused my aim, so it matched the 'placement' I desired for the arrow. Yet, I missed the mark! I considered a bunch of factors, but obviously didn't consider all of them! Did I adjust for crosswinds? Nope. Did I adjust for the pitch of the land? Nope. Did I consider my fatigue as the I took each subsequent shot? Nope. I 'thought' I had made all the necessary 'corrections', but as you can see from my illustration, we sometimes aren't even aware of the things that need 'correction'.

To be free from the domination of sin and the pull of our own flesh, we need something (or perhaps someone) with a better understanding of how this freedom is actually accomplished. Sometimes the correction we need is right there in front of us, but we just don't see it. We need God's help to know when our 'spirit' is right, but our 'flesh' is weak. We need his help in seeing how much that 'fleshly weakness' is pulling us toward sin. Our heart and mind aren't always 'sympatico' - they are at odds with each other sometimes! When all the 'right steps' aren't accomplishing the outcome we hoped for, we would be best served asking God if there are things we haven't 'corrected for' in our lives. Just sayin!

Pulled, not pushed

So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.” (I Peter 1:13-16)

Many of us think of obedience as some sort of subservient submissiveness to the will of another without any ability on our part to do something otherwise. God's definition of obedience - the stuff within us that has no ability to do anything other than be obedient to his will for our lives. We know this is not the case for most of us - we struggle with obedience, don't we? We don't just get up one morning, determined to be obedient and then never turn back. In fact, truth be told, we find ourselves looking back a little too frequently! There is a call for us to be engaged. "Rolling up one's sleeves" really is a call to get into the task at hand. I actually like to wash dishes - there is something kind of therapeutic for me in this activity. The warm, sudsy water soothes my hands and I like seeing things go from soiled to clean. When wearing long sleeves, I have to push them up, out of the way, so I may plunge my hands deeply into the warm water. We are called to "go all in" with Jesus. It is not a half-way commitment - it is all or nothing. The task ahead is often governed by our response to the task. When we are willing to engage in the process, no matter how long or hard it may appear, we will see the rewards based on our level of engagement. If we are half-way committed to this life with Christ, our struggles with life-dominating sins, breaking free from legalism, and the issues that have us bound will continue to be issues.

This is not an unthinking action. God tells us our mind has to "be in gear", we have to be present in the moment. Obedience is not a casual thing - it requires attentive consideration of choices, mindfulness toward making the right ones, and then the determination to continue making them even when it is hard to do it! Like I said, obedience is not the easiest of character traits to possess, but it "pays off" phenomenally! The place of obedience is only held when there is an awareness of how easily it can slip away. I am as guilty as the next person of having this project and that just sits in some sort of "unfinished" state. It may be a sewing project, a little repair job needing to be done around the house, or even the writing of the next installment of this blog. Regardless, it is easy to "put things off" when they just aren't all that exciting at the moment. Obedience requires the determination to not put off till tomorrow what needs our attention today. When we aren't attentive today, it will become easier and easier to allow our attentiveness to drift with each tomorrow!

There is a learning which occurs as we take steps forward. The first step in the right direction is sometimes the most difficult, but with each step comes an element of trust, learning how it is we move forward. Between the first step and the last one there are a whole lot of subsequent steps. It is kind of like crossing a stream by carefully selecting each stone upon which we shall step next. We might just learn the wet ones don't make the best stepping spots! We might learn the wobbly ones give way to our weight! We might also learn there are a whole lot of paths but only one which really gets us to the other side dry! As we put one foot in front of the other, we find it gets easier, because we are learning from the past "missed steps". Obedience is often riddled with some "missed steps". We think it is the correct step for us to take, but we come to discover it was maybe not the "best". The truth is - God redeems our "missed steps" and helps us put our next foot forward! There is a "pull" toward obedience. At first, it seems like a life-challenge which will just not let us catch a break. Each and every step seems hard. I don't know where it really happens, but somewhere along the way of taking the hard steps, the steps get easier. It is like we have someone propelling us forward. I think this is God's Spirit, backing us up all along the way. As we step forward, he nudges us a little further, until it is like a force pulling us into the place of perfect obedience. 

Obedience is incremental, at best. We think we are "all in", but truth be told, we are only as "all in" as we are aware of being "in" right now. We don't know the full story when we take the first step toward obedience, but it is in the steps we discover the story unfolding for us. Each incremental step leads to another and another. It is line upon line, precept upon precept. To think otherwise is to delude oneself. We get down on ourselves when we see the frequency of our missed steps, but God just sees our willingness to take the next step. He urges us on, pulling us toward the place of obedience. In time, it becomes "second-nature" to us, but until then, let him keep pulling! Just sayin!