No More Backsliding....

I love this season, but the pace of life picks up with all the cooking, parties, gift gathering, wrapping, decorating, and planning. So I didn't get to sit down to eat lunch yesterday till 1:00, and then in the middle of it, jumped up to handle a new to-do list when the phone rang. I turned around to see my dog standing on the couch and lapping up the last of my lunch which was on the table beside the couch. She is a very good dog, normally, and this was very out of character. She knows the rules.

I shoved her back from my food, upset because it was a really yummy salad with the last bit of delicious pastrami we had in the house. She looked shocked. She never gets reprimanded, because frankly, she is such a good dog. Usually. I felt like crying. There was no more pastrami and now my salad was full of dog germs.

I glared at my normally good dog, and dumped the rest of the salad down the drain. She looked woefully at me. She knew I was unhappy. She was filled with remorse, at least I think she was. She ducked her head, and glanced up at me with a pleading look. Forgive me, master. I don't know what came over me.

Honestly, I know how she feels. I am certain I am not alone in wanting to live my life every moment as honorably and victoriously and righteously before Christ as possible...only to drop back into bad habits often within moments of reaching new heights of holiness ( if I do say so myself.)

If we are a "new creation in Christ" as the Bible tells us when we are born again and accept Jesus as Lord and savior, shouldn't we be done with all this backsliding? Oh I can control my behavior, until the temptation overcomes me...like the delicious pastrami overcame my normally good dog. But what true sanctification entails is a renewing of the mind, of the thoughts; regeneration from the inside out. Unfortunately, that is a process, and seems to take time. Too much time. But there are things I can do, we all can do, to help that process lead more often to success than to failure. Thoughts originate with our senses, what we take in. What we see, hear, smell, touch. We have to be sure that what we fill our senses with are things of God. If we fill our senses with temptations of the world, ultimately, we will probably succumb. One can only hold back from delicious pastrami so long....

And then one of my favorite verses, Philippians 4:8 gives another bit of sage advice - dwell on things of God.

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Keep your mind stayed on the wondrous goodness of God rather than the tantalizing but profane things of the world. Think about things that are lovely, pure, honorable, worthy, excellent, and true. If we take Philippians 4:8 seriously, it ought to change what we watch, what we play, what we say, and what we read.

The good news is we don't fight this battle alone. We are empowered and indwelled by the Holy Spirit from the moment we accept Jesus as Lord. He is our counselor, our guard, our guide. He is a living 'smack you back in-line' sort of helper. The more we submit to His promptings within, the less likely we are to succumb to the Enemy's promptings without.

Honeybun wagged her tail at me a little later.
"You're forgiven," I told her. However, next time, I will keep the pastrami out of her sight.
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Ephesians 4: 20-32
²⁰ But that is not the way you learned Christ!— ²¹ assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²² to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
²⁵ Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. ²⁶ Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷ and give no opportunity to the devil. ²⁸ Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. ²⁹ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³² Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.