Thursday, January 17, 2013

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth… not going all the way, and not starting


If not you, who? If not now, when?
— The Talmud

Scripture Text (Heb 3:7-14):
The Holy Spirit says:
Oh, that today you would hear his voice,
“Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion
in the day of testing in the desert,
where your ancestors tested and tried me
and saw my works for forty years.
Because of this I was provoked with that generation
and I said, ‘They have always been of erring heart,
and they do not know my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”
Take care, brothers and sisters,
that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart,
so as to forsake the living God.
Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,”
so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.
We have become partners of Christ
if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.

Here’s the thing:

It is so easy for us to delay becoming holier people by just saying that we will get better tomorrow. Think about the last time you tried to start a new diet or exercise program. I’m guessing you probably had a couple days when you said, “Well, today’s my last day of eating unhealthy food. I promise I will start the diet tomorrow.” This same continuous self-gratification philosophy is often applied to our spiritual lives. However, if we don’t start actually living holy lives today, what we are in effect doing whether we realize it or not, is turning our backs on God and all the grace that goes along with it.

God wants nothing more than to have you turn to him.

Unfortunately many of us irrationally resist listening and responding to God's voice fearing it will somehow thwart our happiness and fulfillment.

But Jesus' wish for us is that his joy may be in us and that our joy may be complete.

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