Stagnance

Have you ever thought about your thought life?

I grew up hearing this in church a lot, but maybe it will hit home for you.
Do you realize that every sin that is committed starts out in the mind? It starts as a thought, then it's formulated into a plan, and then it becomes an action. This could be conscious or subconscious, but it happens and has happened to everyone. This is what comes natural to us. It's called our "sin nature."

Yes, ladies and gents, we all have screwed up minds. We are hopelessly, helplessly screwed up! And there is only One who can help us. His name is Jesus. He died on the cross to atone for all sin. He was placed in a tomb, and was raised from the dead three days later. Afterward he revealed himself to many, he ascended into heaven. That's the God I serve. And I want to continue serving Him daily.

Here's what I didn't ever hear in church... It almost seems like a given, but I never really thought about it. Did you know that our thought life also has a lot to do with our walk with Christ?

You can't grow closer to God as a stagnant Christian. You can't just pray a prayer, walk an aisle, and just be close to God. You actively have to think, "What can I do today that will glorify God?" You also have to keep in the word. Think of it as setting spiritual goals.

You have to have a goal set in your heart and mind in order to move forward in your walk with Christ. You can't just passively become more Christlike.

James 1: 22-25 says this:

"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does."

What I'm trying to say is this:
It's so easy to become a stagnant Christian. You can walk into a church or Bible study and soak up all of the God stuff you can and then get up and leave everything you learned at the door. Some people even do personal Bible study and have quiet time but still do nothing about it. I like how the author of James put it: it's like a person who looked in a mirror and walked away from it, forgetting what he saw.

You, my friend, should not be like this person. You can easily be like the person in James, or you can make up your mind today to be a doer of the word. You can put everything into practice. You have to look intently at the law in order to be an effectual doer.

In order to do that, you can actually turn that logic that I used at the beginning of this post around to use it for good. You have to think about your future progression in your relationship with Christ, then formulate your plan, and put it into action. First it will be a conscious thing, but with time, it will be subconscious.

That's the spiritual goal I've set. I want to be a more consistent doer of the word, and I want it to eventually be a subconscious thing. I've made that decision in my mind, and I am praying that that decision turns into action.