BBD 10.16.06 Intentional Change
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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The Burning Bush Devotional
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10.16.06
Intentional Change
Today's devotional was written by my son, Clark Wrather, who is the pastor
of the First Baptist Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma. The title and Scripture
have been added.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the
form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made
Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in
the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled
Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the
cross. - Philippians 2:5-8.
I have noticed something over the years of my life. I am either getting
fatter or I'm becoming slimmer. It would be nice if my body would stay
constantly at one perfect weight, but this has not happened. I imagine that
it has not happened for you either.
I realize I am influencing the process all the time. The total often rises
when I leave Pizza Hut with the satisfaction that comes from knowing they
lost money on me after my performance at their buffet. This type of
influence is on a subconscious level, but occasionally I try to directly
influence this rise and fall.
A couple of years ago, after having a freak inspiration around New Years, I
decided to stop the steady rise and see if I could make my weight take a
drastic downturn. Part of my action plan included paying for a month of
membership at our local gym. The membership was around $30.00, but guess
what.I never went.
I never went despite wanting to lose a few pounds. I never went despite
making a commitment to do so. I never went even though I had paid for it. In
retrospect, I have to admit I'm somewhat ashamed of myself.
Your spiritual life is very similar to your physical life. You are either
growing closer to God or you are moving away from Him. Your relationship
with Him does not stay the same everyday. Like your weight, unless you
decide to influence the process, you will probably move away from God
instead of growing closer to Him.
I know that some of you have never gotten intentional about growing closer
to God. You would like to be. You would like to walk closely with God,
possibly as much as I might like to look like a guy on the cover of Men's
Health magazine. If I'm honest, I can admit to myself that I must not care
all that much about my weight, because I have done nothing about it. How
much do you really care about being close to God if you are doing nothing
about it?
Copyright © 2006. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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