Do you know how small the things are that disrupt our lives with Christ?
You know it’s the small things that often trip us up. It’s forgetting to wake up on time by a minute that can make you miss a critical appointment. It’s the word said in haste that can give someone a bad view that can take much to correct.
It is so often not the big things, it is the small things. The entire people of Israel were made to suffer defeat in their bid to take the Promised Land, all because one guy, in one family, in one tribe in the entire troop decided to disobey God’s command and keep some of the loot.
Enjoying fullness of life in Christ can often elude us just because of what may appear an insignificant issue. We neglect regular prayer, our giving life is minimised, we harbour a ‘little’ grudge with a brother/sister, we’re more influenced by the trash TV we watch rather than the Word of God we rarely read and barely understand. We foster the tidbits of gossip we come across regularly but hardly ever look to support brothers and sisters and challenge others to godly living.
These on their own often appear so innocuous that it’s accepted as normal – often overlooked and hardly ever seen as a problem in and of themselves. Yet these so called little things that become embedded in our daily living are significant blocks in relating to Jesus and living the life He requires.
For me, I’m often convicted to consider my way of life and explore how certain things cam become crutches to me that hinder rather than help me in my walk with Christ. Take for example the things I eat. If I note my dependence on certain unhealthy foods that occasionally are harmless but in their regularity threaten healthy living, then I’m encouraged to quit them for a season so as to develop healthier eating habits that become ingrained in my system.
Therein lies the issue – developing healthier habits, godly habits. The path to Jesus is not so much about what we do not do – it’s more of the things we actively do. That is determined by the habits we develop. Experience continues to teach me, that applying godly habits to situations takes concerted and consistent reinforcing. It is not good enough to consider a one-off sufficient, but in the same ways sportspeople will train and repeat certain actions to strengthen and embed certain techniques likewise the regular repeated godly acts – ones motivated and enabled by the Holy Spirit – eventually embed themselves in your system and way of living.
That’s how I’ve understood that reference “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” That hiding is constant and repeated acts that over time become godly habits. It’s so deeply entrenched that you get sensitive to things that can put you off course – to err, to sin. These things can help ward off those ‘little’ things like prayerlessness, irregular inconsequential giving, susceptibility to gossip and so on.
A critical verse of scripture for me is found in Romans 12:1, 2 and the deal about not being conformed but being transformed by the renewing of the mind indicates regular practising. As that ongoing practise continues so we develop godly habits, and so we discern God’s perfect and acceptable will for our lives.
That way no little thing can become a big block in doing and being everything pleasing to God.
(Photo by Shane Aldendorff on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 