HOW TO OUTWIT OUR GOOD INTENT

“One last box and I’ll be done, and my New Year resolution will transform this spare room into a wonderful exercise room! I’m on my way to a healthier and skinnier me!” That’s what I’d said to myself last year. And here I stand in the middle of a once again cluttered room with boxes and bags all around me.

The treadmill was decorated with an old coat, an afghan, a pair of “too small” jeans, and a wooden back-scratcher. (I wondered where that back-scratcher had ran off to.) The weight lifting bench held a pair of boots, a wore out pair of Nikes and a pair of blinged out sandals I couldn’t live without.

Once again, the room was filled with even more clutter AND exercise equipment. And I was still unhealthy, overweight and disappointed in myself. How did I allow this to happen?

I had good intentions but I was never committed.

Good intentions.

There’s more than one sad song about people with good intentions.

Sometimes our spiritual life can get cluttered. The Holy Spirit comes and cleans us out and we fill ourselves right back up with junk. Instead of reading the word of God, we binge watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Instead of meeting the Lord in prayer we ease our conscience with a “now I lay me down to sleep” poem. Instead of going to church and being part of a local body of Christ, we watch TBN. And we wonder why we feel so undone and so empty inside.

How do we make a real commitment and a real change?

 

We need a new heart. Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

When we make no real commitment to Christ after we accept Him, we are in danger of being filled right back up with things of the world instead of a Christ-like attitude. Luke 11:24 (NIV) “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” These are some pretty scary words Jesus spoke in this chapter about our spiritual condition.Some people feel they don’t need to commit to a local church body, but God’s word says otherwise. Just like physical exercise strengthens our physical body, spiritual exercise strenghtens our spiritual body. The body of Christ are the church members, and we need each other. We have a responsibility to each other. Hebrews 10:23 (NIV) Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Let us become committed to Jesus Christ and our local church body. We can’t allow ourselves to be cluttered up with junk after we’ve been cleaned out! Be committed! Proverbs 16:3 (NIV) Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.