If you’re anything like me, then the celebration of Thanksgiving Day last week signaled the start of a season in which eight days’ worth of activities and to-do lists are crammed into seven days of time. The season in which my head still peels off my pillow at 6:21 in the morning, but doesn't find the pillow again until too late each night. The season in which all the usual responsibilites fill the hours in between, but all the extra doings overflow the cup.
But Thanksgiving is a day set aside for giving thanks, not giving gripes, and on that day the quiet conviction of the Holy Spirit was beckoning me to hold off on the chaos and join Jesus for time together.
It was a wondrous morning hour, with blue sky in my window, and beautiful silence stilling my heart, and Jesus and His Word and me. However, I soon discovered that I wasn’t spending that morning with Him just to experience wonder and beauty, but also to be cloaked in conviction, to taste humility, and to embrace repentance.
For as I moaned about how strong fleshly habits are in my life, little did I know that He had foreordained 1 Peter 4:1, and that He had foreordained that I should read it on Thanksgiving morning with a heart ready to listen.
“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” {I Peter 4:1}Arm yourselves also.
Here I have been struggling against the current without a life preserver.
I have been carrying water without a bucket.
I have been running the car without an engine.
Most days I do read my Bible, but that’s often all that it is. A cursory reading rather than a timely reveling. And the Thanksgiving revelation of I Peter 4:1 is that I can struggle against sin and the flesh all I want, but unless I am armed with the same mind as Christ, my struggle is as useless as carrying water in my fingers to a raging fire.
Not spending that time with Jesus in the morning is the ultimate act of pride. It is the supreme choice to love sin.
It says, “I am powerful enough to live today with food and water, but without Jesus.”
It says, “I already know what needs to get done today, and it doesn’t matter if my ideas matter for eternity.”
Conversely, even five minutes of quiet with Jesus is the ultimate expression of humility. It is the greatest step towards victory over sin.
It says, “I need you, Jesus my Savior. I can’t make it through this day on my own.”
It says, “Teach me, Lord, what You want this day to be about for eternity.”
Don't twist this humility. There is no glory in the act of taking this step of quiet time, no bonus crowns stored up in Heaven as points for every extra chapter you read in Scripture. No, the step itself is not glorious, but Jesus Himself is all glorious, and He knows whether I am dismissing Him on my to-do list, or listening to Him as my Lord.
And the next time I find myself stickily bound in the quagmire of sin or boarding the train of chaos headed to despair, I know the Holy Spirit will again remind me: “Did you arm yourself with the same mind of Christ today?" If so, the exit sign for the quagmire and the chaos train is that-a-way!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: martinak15
Thank you Lo, for this. I never could get my words formed on paper like this, but this is exactly what I have been thinking on. So much to do for God, so much time wasted on little nothings that don't matter! This was a wonderful encouragement to me!
ReplyDeleteI've read your beautiful writing, so I know otherwise, but thank you! God is so huge, and somehow I too tend to put the little foolish things ahead of Him.
DeleteHope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Lauren, thank you for this post. This message has been often repeated to me lately (even this morning). I think I need to pay attention! :) Thank you for putting it so very well.
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