Have you ever started your day on the right foot spiritually?
Maybe you had a powerful moment at church on Sunday morning or a great quiet time with the Lord before work on Tuesday, yet by lunchtime, that devotional is lost in the rearview mirror, and you’re totally off track.
By the time you’re evaluating your day, before your head hits the pillow, you’re asking God to forgive you for getting so sideways, and promising to do better tomorrow.
I think every follower of Christ struggles with wanting to “be a better Christian.”
Christ was perfect, so we don’t have to be; however, I think our motives are pure. We love the Lord, and so we want to live a life pleasing to Him, just as I want to be a better husband, or a better dad, or a better boss because I love my wife, my kids and my employees.
There’s just one thing that constantly gets in the way … me! I’m always fighting back my emotions, my desires, my thoughts and my feelings.
The apostle Paul can certainly relate: “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway” (Romans 7:19).
Fortunately, Paul also offers a solution to this conundrum in Romans chapter 12: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Paul is telling us that the answer to our “SELF” problem is surrender. He is calling us to surrender our bodies, our minds and our wills to the Lord.
Theologian Warren Wiersbe taught that Satan will attack our bodies with suffering, our minds with lies, and our wills with pride. In each of these areas, our enemy tempts us to focus on ourselves instead of on our Savior.
We must daily surrender these three areas to God to find victory over sin and self. How? Read Scripture that correlates to your body, mind, and will. Pray it out loud. Memorize it.
Throughout your day, recalibrate your soul by laying your body, mind and will at the Master’s feet, and I believe you will find victory through surrender.
Adam Detamore (@adetamore on Twitter) is pastor of Realife Church in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members. Send comments to [email protected]
