It is time to regroup, reevaluate and make the necessary changes. This is always the case for every Christian, and a crutial part in spiritual progress towards growning godliness and holy living. None cane afford to take the back seat and let life do the driving, checking out the scriptures now and them and hoping the salvation of God will cover anything we have missed. The Christian life is a walk, a fight and a journey to the heavenly city, which will take up all our time and effort as we wrestle on to take the prize at the end.

It so too easy in these restless and complacent days to allow ourselves to be lulled into a sense of false security and not notice the growning temptations we are succombing to, and futile interests that divert our attention away from Christ too often. Sleep can overwhelm us so easily and our days will become ineffective, courgeless and wasted.

Today, let us rise up against the lethargy of mind and body, and take up our weapons against our worst enemy – ourselves. Self has the amazing ability to justify every thought process, negative word and destructive selfish deed, that could ever be imagined. The trick of the mind is to keep ourselves in the positive glow of self-preservation, so that we never actually come to terms with the deep heart sins that infest the human breast.

These heart sins are excused by us, in that everyone else does it, so I have to fit in or they will sideline me, think I am unaware of the issues and leave me out. Human society does this, but we do not need to be concerned about it, as the Lord is with us and has greater and more profound purposes for us than this world offers.

Pride, selfishness, conceit, impatience, snobbery, wanting, hating, jealousy- these are the big sins that will ruin us if we should let them fester. Unfortunately we easily get distracted and imagine that sins like murder, rape, adultery, armed robbery, are the really big ones that God especially hates, but we have missed the point. God hates all sins, because it ruins us and everyone else, but the heart sins are the vipers that sting us to death and keep us away from really reading his word with understanding and praying with sincere meaning.

This is the very root of spiritual failure, and if we are honest, we know it already. This is the problem with our minds- they are not honest and facing up is so hard to do because we know God will require all our being and will make us new, and even as Christians, we are not sure if that is what we want.

God wants everything. Not half measures, second hand thought, emotion or belief, but a faith vibrant and alive and in tune with him. A faith that will strike out with him into the nastiness of human society and will not mind being thought badly of, or not regarded as one of the crowd, but will shine and will be so bright that he will show it to everyone. This is not just for the chosen few, who reach some “top level” of spiritualiy, but for every one of his children.

This is the God we believe in and we need to get to the point where we can serve him wholly and obey him absolutely and make an impact where we are.

How alive am I? What is holding me back? What do I need to put right, so that I can know my God so closely, that he is my true friend and Master?

For every one of us, the answers to these questions will decide the direction and meaning of our lives. The choice is God or Myself and the outcome will affect me, my family and everyone who knows me. For the Christian, it isn’t really a choice at all, because the Lord has bought us and we belong to him, so we need to square up and face up to what he is calling us to.

We think we are giving up things and we will loose out and – yes – we do loose things, but not loose out. We give up our seflish, small-minded, little selves and we get a life walking with the Lord of the Universe, and experiencing his power continually, so that we do right, put to death the selfish attitude and make sacrifices for others, to brign them to the same Lord.

This life isn’t the main event, but a time to prove God and throw off the selfish desires and sins that encumber us, so that we can know Him as we fight in this fallen world. This is the glory of the Christian and it will shine out to those around if we are patient and hold on to the promises of God. People may not see the glory of Christ in you at first, but they will in time. They may not openly regard you, as social pressure is powerful, but in their hearts they know that you are true and the God you follow is true. They might even investigate him for themselves and you may never know.

Heaven will reveal amazing things and the first will be last and the last, first. We need never fear, for who can be against us, if God is with us.

Lift the sword, helmet and shield, along with the shoes, and step up to the mark to fight for the one who fought for you. He will keep you and give you the victory as you give up yourself and become like Him.