Enter in

Sometimes we need a reset in life – a new year is usually considered a good time to begin again what we may not have done well in the previous year. If you are anything like me, you might be having a harder time ‘beginning anew’ that diet plan. All the other stuff that I have committed to this year is going well, but that ‘healthy eating’ lifestyle change is harder after you have become accustomed to eating all those sweets over the holidays, isn’t it? Those ‘carbs’ just have a way of latching onto us and holding us captive to their allure! Sin is kind of like that in our lives, too. It has a way of appealing to some urge we might not have enough ‘inner power’ to overcome on our own. If that pull is what is keeping you from moving forward this year, perhaps it is time to revisit the issue with God.

Watch what God does, and then you do it; like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like this. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

God loves us so much that he wants to help us be like his son, Jesus. He urges us toward ‘proper behavior’, but he doesn’t just expect us to get there on our own. He gave us an example to follow, providing a means for us to ‘enter into’ his best for us. He also tells us to keep company with him – and like it or not, with each other. Perhaps one of the hardest things we can do is admit to another what we are struggling with right now. Yet, it could be that God prepared that individual to actually bring us a word to help us resist the urge to give into whatever it is we are struggling with right now. It could also be that he wants us to learn ‘strength’ by admitting our ‘weakness’.

That may seem a little scary to some of us because we have been very ‘private’ about our struggles. We don’t want to ‘air our dirty laundry’ to others, but God isn’t impressed with that type of ‘strength’. In fact, he calls us to give up our ‘caution’ when it comes to admitting our need. We admit it to him first, then we shouldn’t be surprised when he urges us to admit it to another who is also following Christ. It isn’t because he doesn’t love us – it is because of his intense love for us that he gives us one another to walk out this thing we call ‘right-living’. Just sayin!

Time for a reset

Can you say you exercise 'good sense' the majority of the time? I know I can have moments of nonsense in my life - those times when the decisions or actions just did not make total sense. In fact, they kind of bordered on the ridiculous on occasion! The majority of the time, I exercise good sense by listening to wise counsel, heeding scriptures warnings, and not doing whatever my conscience says I should not do. These three don't always keep me out of trouble, but they go a long, long way toward helping me avoid those 'nonsense activities' that would only bring more trouble into my life.

Good sense brings blessing, but the road of the treacherous is long and rough. A clever person acquires knowledge and then acts on it; but a fool advertises his folly for all to see. (Proverbs 13:15-16)

Think of a clever person as one who is quick in their intellect, mentally bright, and quite able to handle issues as they arise. If that isn't how you'd describe yourself today, then you probably aren't alone in the mix because others will say they are a little 'dull' in their intellect, not always mentally bright, and are often unable to deal with things that come their way. Does that make any of us less likely to receive God's blessings in our lives, though? No, it just make us human!

There is a difference between being clever, or a person of good sense, from being treacherous and foolish. The treacherous is ready to betray trust at almost every drop of the hat. They aren't very faithful in their commitment to anything other than what may benefit them at the moment. The foolish things that emerge in the activities of one given to living a treacherous life are really what sets them apart. Their actions are marked with deception - so much so that there is really nothing reliable in them. 

This is why their road is long and hard. Their choices aren't reliable - their commitments are absently promised - their words are meaningless. The actions God desires are those that stem from acquiring knowledge that actually helps to bring foundation into our lives. If we haven't allowed that foundation to be built, we will be all over the board. If we want to enjoy the blessings of God in our lives, it begins by submitting to the process of learning. Scripture isn't just given to look at from time to time - it is meant to be 'grafted into' our lives much like a sprig from a tree may be grafted into the life-giving trunk of another.

I opened with the thought of three things that can help us to exercise good sense - wise counsel, scripture, and our own God-given conscience. If you won't listen to good counsel, and you don't always think about scripture when you are about to act, you can at least fall back on your conscience! When all three align, you are much better off. When two align, you are closer than you'd be with only relying upon one. We really need all three together. So, if you aren't in a place where you are regularly taking in the Word of God - get there. If you don't feel like you have those who give wise counsel in your lives - ask God to bring them into your life. If you have been a little too 'lax' in listening to the nigglings of your own conscience - perhaps it is time for a complete 'reset'! Just sayin!

Shaky footing

From time to time I like to share a quote I come across that speaks to me. Today, I will share one that we all need to learn well: "The past always looks better than it was. It's only pleasant because it isn't here." (Finley Peter Dunne) It was Henry Ford who reminded us that failure was just an opportunity to begin again, wasn't it? The past looks so good because we are probably busy finding ways to fail anew right now! As long as we are still on this earth, we are going to know times of failure - of unpleasant endings to what we hoped would end a little better. We didn't count the cost well - we didn't consider the outcome before we took the leap. The past looks good only to those who don't remember the pain of the failure!

Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we’d rather the test showed our failure than yours. We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn’t possibly do otherwise. We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives. (2 Corinthians 13:6-8 MSG)

Solid isn't deemed solid until it is put to the test. I have cautiously taken that first step out onto suspension bridges spanning drops so great I could not estimate the distance. The second step comes with a little more bravado, and then a little bit of the bridge's board crumbles upon your third step, and you feel that moment of panic! The first two steps may have been called 'solid', but that third one undid all you believed about the bridge! Your footing is less that secure at that point and you almost find yourself taking a step back. Why? You return to where you knew there was solid footing because you felt more secure there. If you have ever lived in icy regions, you know there is just a fine line between 'firmly frozen' and 'unstable ice'. There is a huge difference in where one stands or ventures between the two! 

We all need regular checkups where it applies to our spiritual health, my friends. We get off on not so solid footing from time to time - because we have a tendency to allow a little drift due to our inattentiveness. The thing about the suspension bridge or the icy crossing is that we are forced to test what it is we are placing our trust in all the time. Each step requires our intense concentration - we really cannot just stop to enjoy the thing around us. If we are a little easier path, we might not pay as close attention, allowing our thoughts to drift and our focus to be less intense. Speaking as one who has come up a few times a little bruised and battered by that one, let me just say we might not realize the unevenness of the path or that we have veered a little askew of straight!

The truth winning out in us isn't the result of a one time test - it is the result of being aware of our footing along the way. We don't lose focus - we don't need to 'reset' our course. Yet, if we have lost our course, it is easy enough to 'reset'. This thing called grace is actually a great 'reset' point in life. We lay hold of grace, it lays hold of us, and we get pulled back to firm footing time after time again! The truth is that our footing isn't going to always be solid. When we need that 'reset' in life, we might find we look back and think it wasn't all that bad 'back there', but we soon forget just how shaky that footing was! Just sayin!