Monday, July 11th
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Hebrews 3:12,13
Step Ten of Alcoholics Anonymous says that we need to continue to take a personal inventory. Daily, we need to be introspective, analyzing self to see that which we still need to work on. It is easy, once we have dealt with one defect to feel like we’ve got things pretty figured out. I remember coming out of treatment and thinking that I had most of my defects ironed out. That lasted about five minutes.
We all have our own defects that cause some injury in our lives. We may not realize it, but when we follow our defects and refuse to deal with them, they lead us to fall away from the living God. This does not mean we lose our salvation but we can and do distance ourselves from God as we pursue our own misery. Many of us have been paralyzed in our spiritual lives by pornography, gluttony, anxiety, self-image, bitterness, resentment, anger and all other manner of defect. To move upward, to pursue God, we need to be painfully honest with ourselves.
There are those of course, who in their pride, are blind to any defect. This blindness is perhaps the most devastating defect as it brings all growth to a stop. In this respect, the alcoholic has it easier than the successful, self-sufficient individual. If you cannot identify any destructive defect in your life, you may suffer from this blinding pride. We all have defects. We all need God. Those who catch a glimpse of how badly they need God are the blessed.
We all know someone who cannot see his or her defects, and it is so tempting to help them see, but this passage is not about judging others. The command in the verse above is to be self-aware. We are to take care of our own hearts. We are to be on guard for the evil in ourselves, lest we suffer the destructive consequences. If we want real life to grow, we need to stop sowing the seeds of our own flesh.