July 14, 2020 – Click here to listen
Have you ever been unhappy with You?
I have!
I was mulling over some thoughts yesterday concerning improvements that I needed to make in me. The list was long and discouraging because most of my faults I have fought against most of my life with little success and they are are still hanging around.
During Covid19 I have improved greatly my guitar playing. With all that time being cooped up I decided to practice several hours daily, and it is beginning to show some positive results and I’m playing better than ever before. It takes discipline to practice playing the guitar. Improvements don’t come easy and it is a very slow process, at least for me. But by using self -discipline, perseverance, and driving my wife crazy playing and replaying scales and songs, I have slowly but surely seen my hard work beginning to pay off.
I was thinking that I need to use similar strategy in making improvements in my personal walk with the Lord. There is a ton of information available to help someone improve on the guitar, but what about everyday life and how to make the most out of it for the Lord? All we need is in the Bible and our instructor is none other than Jesus.
He helped everyone he ever met; Jesus was compassionate, patient, loving, kind, merciful, courageous, righteous, honest, encouraging, wise, humble, pure, fair, sympathetic, caring, considerate, and that’s just for starters. I wish I was like that! I want to be like Jesus, but when I look at this list, I’m embarrassed. Of course when I first started playing the guitar, I was embarrassed and would not allow anyone to see me play. I’m still no Eric Clapton but at least I can play a few songs and they sound pretty good.
Growing as a Christian can feel daunting. We want to become more like Jesus, but we know we’ve got a long way to go and we can often feel like we’re going backwards. I’ve had this same feeling with playing the guitar. It is not an easy instrument to play and it takes practice and perseverance. It is, however, entirely worth the effort to me. Being more like Jesus is worth our maximum effort. Our work won’t be accomplished in a day, a week, a month, or even years, or a lifetime, but we can and will improve and the rewards are exhilarating.
So, how can we grow, especially in tough times like the ones we are in? Faith, hope, and prayer will help you through difficulties. Remember that Jesus died for your sins and that your reward will be great.
I’m trying to identify the areas where I need the most improvement and I’m making a conscious effort daily to turn that area of my life around. Old habits don’t die easily, and I have a long way to go, but I’m encouraged and have faith that the Lord will help me.
Maybe it’s time for you to do as I have done and spend some time analyzing yourself and making note of the areas in which you are weak and put them to writing. Trying to be more like Jesus can be overwhelming but working from a list in a systematic fashion will help. I feel sure it will bring positive results in the same way with you too.
I find myself more and more asking that famous question, What would Jesus do? Most of the time when I ask it, I change directions from the way my flesh was leading me. In the book of Isaiah God said that Israel had become like the idols they worshipped. They had ears, but were unable to hear; they had eyes, but were unable to see; and so on. Israel had become spiritually dead. That is the danger of not working at being more like Jesus daily.
1 John 2:6
Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.