Many of you know that I've
been debilitated for the past (almost) two months. Yesterday I had a
consultation with my doctor regarding the results of my MRI last week. It seems
they found some compressed disks in my lower back. So, now I see a specialist
and see where that takes me.
I mentioned to Melody the
other day that I was getting tired of sitting around so much and wanted to get
back to work. She in her wisdom told me, "You've got to walk right
first!" OK, I admit it, I have been tending to stumble at times lately and
have not had perfect balance with my leg giving away unexpectedly. So, she's
right, before I can get on with the things necessary in my life, I've got to
walk right.
The same thing is true of our
spiritual life isn't it? We stumble around at times unable to walk as we would
wish and then are confused by the fact that we don't have a better relationship
with God. What do you have to do to learn to "walk right"?
John gives us a little insight into that in 1 John 1:6-7 where he writes: "If we
claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do
not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us
from all sin."
For me to begin to "walk right," physically
I'm going to have to follow the doctor's orders or prescribed treatment. For us
to walk right spiritually we are going to have to do the same thing.
The problem I have is that sometimes I'm not a very
good patient. The doctor tells me, "Do these exercises, take this
medicine, etc.", and I try to do that for the most part, but sometimes I
get lazy and don't follow them exactly and because of that sometimes I don't
heal as quickly as I should.
Some are the same with spiritual things. God gives us
specific directions as to how to walk in this life, how to serve him, yet we
get lazy and don't want to follow His will exactly. God reminds His people in
the Old Testament of this problem and encourages them to do better in Deuteronomy 5:32-33 where he says
through Moses: "So be careful to do what the LORD your God
has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in
obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live
and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess."
So, if you want to stop stumbling around religiously,
trying to walk right spiritually but not doing such a good job of it, then get
with the program and be obedient to God, do what He says, even when it's hard
and even when you don't want to. Because before you can be successful
spiritually you have to walk right.
