Yep so much to do, but feeling sort of like this--
And clearly, laziness is contagious (is this what parental indolence can do to children?)--
Yeah, right. Sometimes we simply have to grab ourselves by the old bootstraps and preach ourselves a little sermon. It's not good enough to understand the truth and know what you should be doing. Nope, you've got to do it.
And that's means we can't wait for the right feelings. We can't forgive someone when we finally feel ready to offer that forgiveness. We can't read our Bibles and pray when we eventually find the time and the feelings...because, guess what? That time and those feelings rarely, if ever, come. And we can't do whatever it is that God is calling us to do right now if we're waiting till we somehow mysteriously drum up the desire to obey.
No, no, no. We forgive...we read the Word and pray...we obey and act based upon our will to be faithful--as invigorated and guided by the Holy Spirit. We do it in spite of those feelings of indolence or indifference. We can't just think about it. We have to follow through and do it.
James put it this way: "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?...But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." (James 2:14,18)
We are saved by grace alone, in faith alone. Period. Our works can never save us...but they are evidence of the faith which we profess.
And sometimes "works" mean, as Elizabeth Elliot once explained, "Doing the next thing." Simply doing whatever it is that God has placed before you right now...and doing it to the very best of your ability, with a spirit of thankfulness rather than resentment.
Tackling that mountain of laundry with gusto and gratitude...and thanking the Lord for the blessing of clothes to fold and the people you love who wear them.
Taking on that distasteful chore you've been dreading and putting off...remembering that the Creator and Sustainer of the universe got down on His weary knees and washed filthy feet. And the feet, mind you, of a few men who would betray and deny Him. What was that task I thought was beneath me?
Turning to the Bible and asking God to convict us, teach us, stun us, encourage us with His living, breathing Word.
"Doing the next thing" rather than simply thinking about it.
I love how C.S. Lewis expressed this in Screwtape Letters. Screwtape, the senior devil advises the younger tempter: "The great thing is to prevent his doing anything. As long as he does not convert it into action, it does not matter how much he thinks about this new repentance. Let the little brute wallow in it. Let him, if he has any bent that way, write a book about it; that is often an excellent way of sterilizing the seeds which the Enemy [i.e. God] plants in a human soul. Let him do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm us if we can keep it out of his will. As one of the humans has said, active habits are strengthened by repetition but passive ones are weakened. The more he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and in the long run, the less he will be able to feel."
Yep, time to stop feeling or thinking without acting. Time to do the next thing in obedience to the Spirit's urging.
Some days that may entail calling that estranged friend...or putting aside the chores to spend time with a loved one...or writing that note...or picking up the Word...or tackling that project...or folding that laundry... Whatever it is, time to do.
Or as my husband and I often remind each other, in the words of the great theologian, Yoda (of Star Wars fame), "Do not try. Do."
To God be the glory.
What an encouragement this was to me! I face "doing the next thing" all the time having two children under two years old--sometimes I just don't feel like doing something, but when I "do the next thing" and obey, the Lord gives grace--thank you for sharing these words.
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