(01-19-22)– Spiritual Hindrances! –Hebrews 9:28)
My friend, may I ask you a question? Faith neglect affects us all. Unfortunately, is it true that just a bit of neglect snowballs quickly from minimal risk to maximum impact?
My friend, Life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day.
I'm M. Clifford Brunner.
Back in my Sunday school days, many years ago, I memorized a rhyme that I remember for the most part. It had to do with not neglecting my young faith as a Christian. I don't remember it word for word but it went something like this: "Miss "Meant-to" had a friend and her name was Didn't do. Have you ever met them, did they ever call on you? These two girls now live together in the house of Never-win, and I'm told that it is haunted by the ghost of Might-have-been." "What might have been." I know my old Sunday School teacher was very concerned that his young pupils would never have to look back years hence and lament, "If only . . . " or "I really meant to . . . " as concerns our faith. As I look back over the decades past, I remember many times when my momentary neglect, especially as a young man, put that faith in jeopardy. All too often that neglect was the product of what I meant to do but didn't.
Faith neglect affects us all. Unfortunately, a bit of neglect snowballs quickly from minimal risk to maximum impact.
Here's a story: We often fail to consider the gradual, cumulative effect of sin in our lives. In Saint Louis in 1984, an unemployed cleaning woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer the bees continued to fly in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing city of bees. The whole attic became a hive, and the ceiling of the sec- ond- floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. While the woman escaped serious injury, she was unable to repair the damage of her accumulated neglect. (Author unknown.)
Faith neglect is more often a drift than a rush into spiritual decay. Like that cleaning woman, we notice the signs, small at first but concerning, yet fail to react. God fills our hearts with the truth of His gospel but often our hearts begin to leak and we fail to plug what begins as a small leak, eventually leading to a gush of faith, spilled carelessly along the road of life. As A. W. Tozer put it, ". . . the heart is a leaky thing . . . the good intentions, the strong wine of spiritual desire . . . and suddenly you can see the strong desire for God . . . but the heart is like a sieve, and pretty soon it all leaks away. Soon there is no desire left." How do we avoid the "If only's" and "I really meant to's" in life. Don't ignore early signs of faith leaking. Tend to those quickly in prayer and in resolve. Hold yourself to the highest standards of devotion, obedience and worship. "Might-have-beens" are seldom repaired and often come crashing down on all your good intentions.
We pray. Heavenly Father, often we allow faith neglect to cause us to drift rather than rush into spiritual decay. That is so deceiving Lord. We notice the signs, small at first but concerning, yet fail to react. Sad for us. Fill our hearts with the truth of Your gospel to plug the leak of our neglect and help us to understand what begins as a small leak, eventually may lead to a gush of faith, spilled carelessly along the road of life. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!
Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.
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<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.