Jip, one month to go and then I would’ve gone 10 months without indulging my serious fashion fetish. I feel the way my wardrobe looks – worn out! Soulsearching and exerting extreme willpower will do that to a girl!
But ok, this is what I realised: Once your salvation is secure, the best Satan can do is distract you, preoccupy you and keep you from maturing. The biggest battles in our lives, our biggest challenges and the things that place us on the precipice of progress or defeat in the faith is not the things we see, it is the things in the unseen.
If Satan can keep us from noticing what is happening in our hearts, his belt is notched with our inneffective insignificance.
The unexamined life is a tragedy, we all know this. Examining our lives is essential if we want to grow and progress, especially in the faith. But very often these ideals are just that – ideals, things we say as believers like we know them but we’ve never done them, certainly not at any deep level. That was me! I was poorer for it…
“Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways! “You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.” Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways!” Haggai 1 v 5-7
In “considering my ways” in the last 10 months I have been so convicted about the fact that God’s heart towards me is undivided, but that my heart towards Him is fragmented into a million different pieces. I am an expert rationaliser, always quick to say this interest or that passion or this hobby or preoccupation or choice or this way of doing or thinking doesn’t take away from how I journey with God. I discovered otherwise. CS Lewis said that every time we make a choice, we are turning the central part of ourselves into something a little different than what it was before, and so in our life as a whole, through our innumerable choices, we are moving towards harmony with God or the opposite. When I took the time to “consider” it certainly shone a light on places in my life where I am not in step with Him.
So can I encourage you today?
To get uncomfortable: Listen Lovely, this is a corner piece of the puzzle right here. Because your comfort is the single biggest thing opposing your spiritual progress. Because it’s only in a state of discomfort that we can grow. So, launch yourself hard out of your comfort zone, challenge yourself hard on the areas in your life you thought had nothing to do with God… believe me, revelations await as your reward and progress as your prize.
To hear His voice louder: Sometimes we care more about what they say or the scale says than what He says. When was the last time you spent time anchoring yourself in His opinion of you? Digging for that gold in His word is a reset button for the mind and the heart, making us more able to set our hearts on the things above. You know, as opposed to setting it on what Olivia Pope is wearing in The Fixer or how many (or few?) likes that post got?
To think about That Day more than this day: So that today’s pursuits and passions and even pleasures will always have the end in sight. Because when I get to heaven I am pretty certain I am not going to say: ” I wish I had bought more clothes!” or “I wish I was more on trend!” or “I wish my cupboard looked like Khloe Kardashian’s!”
To ask the difficult question: Which in this case for me was “What is God’s greatest competition in my life?” Honey, I promise you answering this question is a worthwhile quest. What competes for your time, your money, your headspace, your attention. Is it your comfort? Is it your kids? Is it what other people think? Is it the Instagram body or the Pinterest life?
“Take away the dross from the silver and there comes out the pure metal for a vessel for the silversmith to shape” Prov 25 v4