Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Eph 4:23 & 24 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And
that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness.
A very helpful tool in choosing a more correct answer when
we just don’t know the answer on a test is the process of elimination. It is
actually kind of fun teaching this process to students because it gives them an
opportunity to “think” and then all of a sudden they find themselves with a 50%
chance of a correct answer. Once a choice is eliminated, the selections become
fewer. You don’t know what you don’t know until you eliminate some of what you
do know. You know? OK….now that I have confused you; think with me for a
moment of eliminating some bad thinking processes in your Christian life.
If you have a small child what do you see? Who do you see?
Do you see drudgery of a day filled with taking care of that child, no time for
yourself, yelling and being angry and can’t explain why, or do you see your
child’s life as one that can be molded while singing some happy tunes or old
hymns to that child who could, one day be used of God? Do you see yourself
alone with no help or do you see yourself with God’s help, alone? Look around in your
home. What do you see? Dirty dishes, unmade beds, laundry everywhere but in the
washer….or do you see an opportunity to be creative and clean your home for your children
and your husband? You may work outside the home as well. What do you see? A
boring 8 to 5 job with “no one cares that I work so hard for hardly nothing”
and an additional attitude of “Take this job and shove it?!” Uhmmmnnnnn! We have all been there, trust
me.
Something or someone gets in the way and must be identified
as the enemy. If you are trying to figure out this thing called life, and are
stuck, ask God to show you where to begin. There is somebody in your path and
it ain’t Jesus! Satan is a master at working 24/7 tempting us to believe
anything but the truth. He cannot steal our eternal destination if you are a
Christian, but he can steal our joy by falsifying our understanding of God’s
Word. Listen, there are too many things in our lives that are taking us away
from God’s original plan. Identify them. It will take time. Are you ready? When
we get sidetracked with too much stuff, we cannot see God’s best for us. When we cannot see God’s best for us, we
don’t see or understand The Great Commission.
Take inventory and pray for God to show you that one thing
that just might be keeping you from your full potential in being used of God.
How can we see what He sees until we learn to remove one thing to eliminate
another, push something else over, under or out? It is a process. We want to be
women used of God in a more productive way for the cause of Christ and this, my
friend, is the road to finding the needed time for fulfilling The Great
Commission. Don’t miss it! Years will slip by and you may find yourself in the
same rut, but older with a whole lot less energy than previous years. If I
could open the top of young mom’s head and pour these thoughts into it, I would
BUT I can’t!
Food: Until I eliminated white processed sugar, I
did not (could not) see the need for better, healthy foods. I wanted to, knew
some people who could possibly help me, but didn’t think I could endure. My taste
has changed and I didn’t even know it could or would happen. How long will it
last? Until I go back to the old way, I suppose. I don’t want to make that
choice to go back. I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
Music: I love music and I love singing, but until I
chose to eliminate certain kinds of music, I never saw the blessings that come
from God’s music. The old music kept getting in the way, keeping me
sidetracked, if you please, and caused me to struggle in a hundred plus other
areas of my life. Once eliminated, I could “see” more clearly God’s way. The Word of God became alive EVERY DAY!
Submission: Who wants to submit to a man who is not a
Christian? You may love him, but you despise his old way. You know what the
Bible says, but you struggle and it becomes impossible, you think, to obey
God’s Word about the matter until you eliminate some stuff that promotes the
opposite way of the Bible. It might be a
friend or a television program that you may think is funny, or a co-worker who
bends your ear to a “You have rights too, don’t ya’ know!” You battle the world’s way but deep down you
know the Word of God is true. So, you eliminate those people (might be your own
family) and/or obstacles and make the plunge to submit to the man placed as the
authority in your life and WHAMO he begins to see you in a different light and
you two become partners in life. It may take a long time, but you do it. The
end result could be his salvation all because YOU DID WHAT WAS RIGHT. You didn’t
know what you didn’t know.
Church Attendance: You only have
Saturday to clean your home and get ready for Monday and then here comes Sunday
and woe is me. Do I have to go to Sunday school and church and prayer meeting?
Didn’t people in the New Testament just meet in their homes, after all? Oh
me…..been there….but then, you begin to eliminate some obstacles as God shows
you how to save time and you make the plunge to be faithful to God’s house
every time. Surprisingly, all of a sudden some good positive things happen in
your home, your children, and your walk with God as you become a Godly
witnessing wife and a faithful child of God. You couldn’t see all the blessings
that came with being faithful until you made the eliminations.
What stands in the way of you becoming part of The Great
Commission? Now, go eliminate those hindrances and get busy with God’s call in
your ear, an ear that hears what God is saying!
Until next time, Friend, Lord willing
Sharon
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