Unshackled Moments ~ August 29 ~ Don't Gum It Up

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

~Philippians 4:8-9

I have been helping a man plane some lumber. It is exhausting and back breaking work. The main problem is that the boards are made from pine, and the shavings and sawdust clog up the rollers that are supposed to pull the board through the saw. This means that we are having to pull and force each board though as it cuts. It takes about a half hour to clean the rollers and before a single board is completed they are clogging again. Cleaning them isn't worth the time. So we push, pull, grunt, groan and fight for every inch of cut.

We have a purpose and a calling. Every one of us is called to do something for God that no one else can do, but  in addition we are all called to be His light and love on the earth and to reflect who He is to a world that is lost and in need of a solution. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to walk as we are called to walk and to live as God would have us to live. He is the power from outside of us that dwells within us that enables us to access the grace by which we can walk free from hate and sin.

What we run through our lives, what we think and meditate on, attitudes we allow, things we feed our spirit, are like the boards we choose. We have become new creations after accepting Christ, and we are no longer designed to operate on the same stuff we ran on before relationship with God. Like the pine boards and the planer, the wrong things in our life gum up the works. They dirty our spirit and clog the access of the Holy Spirit to our lives. That cuts us off from our power leaving us to try to walk with God, act right and love on our own strength and determination. Something we were never able to do right or well or long.

Today let us be careful to feed our minds and spirits with things that won't hinder the Spirit's power and work in our life. Our walk doesn't have to be a self induced struggle. We can have the peace of God all through the day, and when that peace remains as things go wrong and crazy around us it will point to the power and grace of God.