 |
| Flip Flops |
It's the official shoe of the South! We have them in every genre possible. We have flip flops for the beach, pool, house, ballpark, store, and church. We even have semi-formal ones. I think it's safe to say we are a bit obsessed!
Let's take a closer look at the flip flop. There is no covering to protect the foot at all. The only protection is the sole. However, most have such soft soles that you can feel everything you step on. Unless you have mad skills, you better not try to run in them. That most certainly spells disaster! If you are late and need to sneak in the back, I hope you're not wearing flip flops. The sound, "FLIP FLOP, FLIP FLOP" will give you away every time.
Yet in spite of this, we still love them! Go figure. Just because they are easy, cooler, and everyone else is wearing them.
We wear flip flops in our faith, or lack thereof, too. We put them on and flip flop around serving God and serving the world or ourselves. In Isaiah 29:15 God says, "These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me."
We can be really good at going through the motions; pretending like we have it all together. Outwardly doing everything "right", all while our heart is not wholly serving God. We are like the church in Laodicea who was lukewarm and whose eyes were not open to what was missing. (Revelation 3:14-22) Most of the time this happens so gradually we don't even see it happening.
We let the world creep in and take up residency in our hearts, pushing God out. It comes in many forms. It can be what we watch on TV or listen to on the radio, unforgiveness, uncontrolled anger, compromising God's Word to make us feel better, and much more.
We may be fooling ourselves when wearing these flip flops, but we are not fooling God! He can hear us coming. "Flip flop, flip flop!" Other Christians hear us coming too. There is no hiding that!
We may start by saying things like, "This isn't a big thing. I can handle it. No need to bother God with this." Or, "Times have changed! If God wrote the Bible now He would write that part different."
These two examples seem very extreme from each other, right? But they are not. First, they are both taking authority and power from God and giving it to mere humans. Second, when the 1st is said enough, you start hurting your relationship with God and reach the point of the 2nd, or maybe worse.
I totally get it's a hard pill to swallow! I know, because I've been guilty of it too. We all have. That's where we have to remember what Paul tells us in Romans 12:2. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
We cannot conform to this world and it's standards. We must be transformed. This is not an overnight process. Our minds must be renewed daily because we are human and therefore imperfect. Our minds are part of us and easily swayed. It takes training to renew them. This is done through time with God and time spent in His Word.
With all of this in mind, don't wear your spiritual flip flops! Let's go ahead now and make a pact to not even pack them for our spiritual journey. Actually, let's burn them! We don't want them to end up on anyone's feet!
We may be fooling ourselves when wearing these flip flops, but we are not fooling God! He can hear us coming. "Flip flop, flip flop!" Other Christians hear us coming too. There is no hiding that!
We may start by saying things like, "This isn't a big thing. I can handle it. No need to bother God with this." Or, "Times have changed! If God wrote the Bible now He would write that part different."
These two examples seem very extreme from each other, right? But they are not. First, they are both taking authority and power from God and giving it to mere humans. Second, when the 1st is said enough, you start hurting your relationship with God and reach the point of the 2nd, or maybe worse.
I totally get it's a hard pill to swallow! I know, because I've been guilty of it too. We all have. That's where we have to remember what Paul tells us in Romans 12:2. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
We cannot conform to this world and it's standards. We must be transformed. This is not an overnight process. Our minds must be renewed daily because we are human and therefore imperfect. Our minds are part of us and easily swayed. It takes training to renew them. This is done through time with God and time spent in His Word.
With all of this in mind, don't wear your spiritual flip flops! Let's go ahead now and make a pact to not even pack them for our spiritual journey. Actually, let's burn them! We don't want them to end up on anyone's feet!
No comments:
Post a Comment