This side of eternity, we have zero chance of attaining perfection. The Bible is clear on this fact (Romans 3:23), even though we are promised that as we grow in our faith; we are being transformed from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18). It’s truth. I’ve seen signs of the transformation personally in my own life. If I’m completely honest, it’s both exhilarating and frustrating at the same time.
I spend a great deal of time these days in an earnest effort of trying to renew my mind by studying my Bible as instructed in Romans 12:2. That’s the only means of advancing to the next degree of glory. One of the problems I encounter as I continue in this endeavor is that while renewing my mind shows me more of Who God is and what His will is, it also points out a never-ending list of “issues” I need more work on. The list gets overwhelming at times if I forget to use God’s lens to view it instead of my own.
Through my lens, it’s just too much. I get depressed because there’s no way in my meager strength I would ever be able to check off the simplest item; and the frustration usually hits me first thing in the morning…setting me up for a bad day if I stay focused on my circumstances. I’m learning more and more that is the complete wrong mindset; AND I’m gradually learning to get better at this…FINALLY. I’m by no means perfect at it (not even close), but at least now the Spirit has shown me the proper way to deal with it. Here’s an example of how a typical morning goes for me:
As soon as my eyes pop open in the morning, before I even get out of bed, I’ll say a little prayer. “Good morning God. Help me to see You working in my day today and keep me alert for any opportunities to shine Your light on someone today.” Now, if I were God, I’d give me a gold star for starting my day like that…and I reckon some days He does…but then there are the days I get distracted cooking my breakfast and overcook my bacon, or break the yolk on my over-easy eggs, or struggle with any of a hundred simple tasks that make up my morning routine; and find myself saying a bad word, or thinking “God, is it gonna be one of these kind of days?” and feeling all out of sorts.
Here’s what I’ve learned; and this knowledge didn’t just happen upon me, but evolved through my continued Bible study:
- Just because we start off our day with a gold star, doesn’t mean that we have a hedge around us to protect us from attacks by the enemy…in fact,
- As we are successful in making progress on our journey toward being more like Jesus, the devouring lion that is our enemy (1 Peter 5:8) seeks out our Achilles heel(s) as a focal point for his efforts…and,
- The more effort we put into trying to become more like Jesus; the more the enemy focusses his efforts on knocking us off the path of righteousness we are striving to walk. The more persistent we are about becoming more like Jesus, the more we can expect the enemy to throw little monkey-wrenches into our lives every single day. He will not let up unless we back off from our efforts. He has very little interest in muddling through life, mediocre Christians. They are miserable enough as is and have little detrimental effect on his worldly kingdom. But, those of us who strive for all we are promised as children of God pique the lion-share of his interest…everyday!!!
Now, if those three things sound a bit disheartening; well, they are…lol. BUT, here’s what makes it worth the struggle. On the days when I manage to “hit a snag” while cooking my breakfast, (overcooking the bacon, or breaking an egg yolk) and I catch the bad word BEFORE it flies out of my mouth and replace it with “GOD! I CAUGHT IT THIS TIME!!! I MEAN, YOU HELPED ME CATCH IT THIS TIME” the sense of accomplishment is nothing short of the exhilaration of winning a championship trophy of some sort!!! Just to be clear, for me these days are pretty infrequent…lol…but when they do happen, I’ll be in the kitchen doing my “happy I beat the devil dance,” yelling, “HA! I BEAT YOU DEVIL! NOW GITONOUTTAHERE, CAUSE NOT TODAY!!!” That may sound totally corny to everyone reading this, but it really is who I am. There have been SOOO many mornings where I had to say “Sorry God. Please forgive me for saying those bad words” that I may take my little victory celebrations to an unnecessary extreme, but I can’t help but think maybe God is at least amused by my genuine enthusiasm. And it is genuine, because for me the struggle has been real!
What struck me as amusing (for lack of a better word), is that I managed to conquer overreacting to big issues in my life with relative ease. For example, if I have a flat tire, or my truck breaks down, or some trauma of life happens, I am very quick to turn my focus to God and say, “Ok God: how are You gonna help me out with this situation? Show me the best way to get through it.” and then just calmly go about dealing with whatever it is. However, anytime some little insignificant irritation would come about, I’d immediately find myself at rage level 10; because I’ve cooked my bacon and flipped my over-easy eggs without issue every morning for the last 40 years. It’s just stupid and unnecessary when something goes awry with such a simple task…from my perspective. Then I remembered His ways and thoughts are higher than my ways and thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9); and I’m supposed to count it all joy when I get to face trials of life because that’s how faith, endurance, character and steadfastness are built (Romans 5:3-5 & James 1:2-8)…and that makes us act more like Jesus!
I really, seriously talked to God about ALL these little insignificant, unnecessary irritations to the point I’m sure He was tired of hearing about them. Finally, He turned the light on for me. Big troubles are easy. Even people who don’t really believe in God turn to Him in times of desperation. That’s not real faith. But the little everyday simple irritations, we mistakenly like to think we can handle on our own. Here’s a news flash: when Jesus said “apart from me, you can do nothing” in (John 15:5) He meant that literally. And when James told us that “every good gift that comes to us is sent from the father of light” (James 1:17) he meant that literally…even success at flipping a stupid egg without breaking the yolk!!! So our everyday little annoying trials are just His way of reminding us we have to lean on Him because He really is our Source for everything.
When I realized all these things, I added a line to my bedtime prayers; and now every night I ALWAYS ask God to “help me remember it’s an everyday battle.” Little things are going to go wrong. We need to expect them and treat them just like we would the big things. Learning to rely on God for everything is a game-changer!!!