Walking past the late model car, I glanced in the windows and ... well, the sight was amazing! The back seat was piled 2 feet deep with trash: soda bottles, food wrappers, shopping bags, and boxes. Thrown into the trash were various items of clothing. The debris reached from the floor to overflow the seating area. Given my obsession with a clean car, I just had to turn around and take a closer look. It was a mini-garbage dumpster on wheels! I walked away smiling and wondering why the owner would allow such a disaster to develop. All that trash obviously was not generated in a single day or even over a week. When I leave my car, coffee containers, candy wrappers, and papers go with me. It's so much easier to maintain when I deal with today's trash, today!
A car full of garbage is disgusting. A life full of yesterday's sins and problems is overwhelming! The temptation to ignore that resentment, to leave that jealousy unchallenged, to let bitter feelings stay, to tolerate a bad attitude - you can add your own sin to that list - will create a heart full of trash. A once beautiful life will become cluttered with sin. The pile can become so deep that change will require major, sustained effort. There's a very practical reason that the Word is so clear about taking action now; today's sin grows exponentially when we leave it unconfessed and/or refuse repentance. For example, we read that we must deal with the things that anger us today before the sun sets! "Don't go to bed angry!" Why? Because if we do not, the Devil gets a foothold in our lives. (Ephesians 4:26-27)
Let's make the principle practical.
That mental attraction to a person other than a spouse will never blossom into a life-destroying affair, if it is confessed and surrendered to Christ Jesus today.
Bitterness finds no place to take root in the mind of the man who quickly grants forgiveness today.
Greed cannot shrink the heart of the one who is generous with the little he has today.
Read these words of God's wisdom. In Hebrews, the example of Israel and her journey in the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land is made a life lesson for those of us making the journey to God's Kingdom. Take seriously the challenge to take action today.
"So watch your step, friends. Make sure there’s no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it’s still God’s Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn’t slow down your reflexes. If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we’re in this with Christ for the long haul.
These words keep ringing in our ears: Today, please listen; don’t turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising. For who were the people who turned a deaf ear? Weren’t they the very ones Moses led out of Egypt? And who was God provoked with for forty years? Wasn’t it those who turned a deaf ear and ended up corpses in the wilderness? And when he swore that they’d never get where they were going, wasn’t he talking to the ones who turned a deaf ear? They never got there because they never listened, never believed." (Hebrews 3:12-19, The Message)
The NIV closes that passage saying that 'the people did not enter their rest.' They could not enjoy the fullness of God's promise, the full peacefulness of His provision, because they were overtaken with sins left unconfessed, buried by their sins! But our destiny can be different if we learn from their failure. "God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it." (Hebrews 4:1, NLT)
Live wholly, beautifully, and 'at rest' in the Spirit's life and deal with the temptations of sins of this day- today.
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