Tuesday,
January 24, 2023
But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were
made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the
Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11
Paul makes the point that
trusting Christ has forgiven us, brings with it the sense that we’ve been
cleansed from our sins, made right with God.
It is also hardly necessary to say, we should, as his serious disciples,
continue to live cleansed.
Carrying the silverware, coffee cups, and Wellie-cleaned paper plates into the kitchen, I put the cups and forks in the sink. Staring at the paper plates in my hand, time stood still for just an instant. I had a moment of indecision-muddle, whether to put the paper plates in the sink, garbage, or with the clean dishware in the cabinet. It was a disturbance of my peace, to say the least.
I know, and have always known,
eating off the same plate a dog has cleaned (even my sweet mutt), is a
disgusting prospect. But, there it is…an
unguarded moment, thinking about getting out the door for our appointment, not
the task at hand; I nearly chose the cabinet.
After all, we had paid six-cents apiece for those little plates; a
second use would cut the price in half!
It was then reality
kicked-in. In that moment, confronted
with saving three-cents, (Six-cents if you factor-in reusing my wife’s plate
too….don’t you dare tell her), in that two or three nanoseconds of indecision,
common sense arrived. There was no
justification for saving three (or six) cents, stacked-up against the zillions
of dollars I’d spend at the doctor’s office battling whatever exotic germs my
dog had brought-in on his tongue from rummaging around on the ground in the
back yard. The plates immediately
entered the kingdom of trash.
My “goofy moment” is an analogy
of what’s going on in our minds, spiritually, with the whole issue of
temptation. There are things a
six-year-old understands to be wrong, yet we entertain them; we give sin a
foothold. Given time, prayer, and a
heart willing to align with God’s will, our decision-making becomes much
stronger, rejecting the impulses we have, which our enemy, Satan is more than
willing to use in ruining our witness and peace in Christ.
John Wesley’s advice on getting the best use of our time and call to
minister God’s Word and blessings to others, speaks volumes to my tendency to
be preoccupied, and vulnerable to the enemy’s tactics: Be always moving, and never in a hurry.
For You Today
Let’s let apostle Peter have the last word about
this day’s caution:
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy,
the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to
devour. 1 Peter 5:8
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions
library. To dig deeper on
today’s topic, explore some of these:
The Problem with Dirty Laundry
and When Innocence Shines
Images: Title Pixabay.com Images without citation are either personal
property of the author, or in public domain.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
