"We have become puppets to a lifetime of past choices."
So much of daily living has become devoid of decisions. That is fine if our living has been built on a history of wise choices. But if our lives are built on countless destructive decisions, then we must stop and dismantle any patterns that dictate unconscious behavior and recreate who we are by making healthy decisions in which the Holy Spirit may inhabit in all His fullness.
We have become puppets to a lifetime of past choices. The most powerful ingredient to lukewarmness is laziness, the unwillingness to rise up and take your life by the horns. But the blood of Christ, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, the possession of the Living Word and the gifts of the Spirit have placed the ball firmly in our court. Because we are so used to being carried along in a culture where so many decisions have been made for us, we have become apathetic and lazy. Stop crying out to God for a new, fresh anointing. You have been anointed to make decisions. Stop asking the Holy Spirit to fill you. Paul commands you to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Stop pleading with the Lord to make you Holy. Instead, work out your salvation in every action, thought and attitude. You have all you need. Now it is time to believe what you have received, and act.
The world has often said that Christianity is a crutch for the weak, and sadly they have been right. So many living from one spiritual high to another with vast blank spaces of unfruitfulness in-between. Moses, David, Elisha, Ruth, Paul, these were not weak people. They were decisive pillars, unshakable and consistent, not needing the ridiculous religious props of our modern version of church. The Bible is full of men and women who changed the course of their lives and history because of the tuff decisions they were willing to make.
God is not a crutch; He does not carry us, as Footprints In The Sand would have us believe. Nor does He lay us on a carpet of dreamy ecstasy, carried by soft repetitious chanting, far away from the battle line. He gives us the strength to stand on our own two feet. Church, we have been called to be the most powerful force on earth. Stop romanticizing David and Goliath. David was a man just like us. You have the same Spirit of God and all the same resources David had as he stood before that ugly giant.
All through the writings of the New Testament, especially in Paul’s writings, there is great emphasis on what the believer has become in Christ under the New Covenant, and therefore can become in their living. You are the Righteousness of God, but Paul does not stop there. In all his Epistles, he challenges you with the question, now what are you going to do about it?
Be not conformed to the patterns of this world, prepare your minds for action, be filled with the Holy Spirit, hate what is evil, cling to what is good, love one another deeply from the heart, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, do not be proud, be alert and always keep on praying, husbands love your wives, don’t let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, put off your old self, do not be deceived, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, rejoice in the Lord always, do not be anxious about anything, do not put out the Spirit’s fire, be holy as I am holy, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray, do not worry about tomorrow, resist the devil and he will flee from you, pursue righteousness, love and peace, live at peace, watch your life and doctrine closely, be reconciled to God, do everything without complaining or arguing, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God and do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies.
Christianity a crutch? I think not!
Related Article: Good Decisions Demand Real Honesty