Have you felt God convicting you about your character, your devotion to Him, your priorities, or something else? He will, you know, because He loves His children. Those old bad habits you thought you conquered that crept back into your life, or the new habits you’ve formed that don’t glorify Him or edify you or His Church, He wants them gone. The devil didn’t make you slip back into your old ways; he cannot. That crafty demon of darkness doesn’t have power over you, making you do, say, or think things that dishonor God. Those are choices we make within our circumstances that he can and often does manipulate. Chip, chip, chip.
God wants
His children to be like His Son, Jesus (Rom 8:29). He sees and knows the possibilities
and beauty that lie within us—He knew before He created anything. But He will
not make us conform to the image
of Christ; He could but wants us
to choose to be in the right standing with our God and Maker; only then can we
be like Jesus. When we call out to our Heavenly Father, He will help us remove
everything that’s hindering our walk with Him. Chip, chip, chip.
“What?
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which
ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price;
therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Romans 6:19–20
We’re on
the brink of the end of 2023, and, Lord willing, 2024 begins in a couple of
weeks. How have you fared over the past 351 days? Okay? Wonderful, yet there is always room for improvement. If you’re not too pleased with yourself, change
doesn’t need to happen later; today can be a fresh start. Ask God to forgive
you and help you get back on track with Him. Chip, chip, chip.
Sometimes,
the change needed is to invite Jesus into your life by confessing your sins to
God and asking Him to save you (Rom 10:9, 10, 13). When you do, you become His child
and enter the royal family as a joint heir with Jesus. What a wonderful way to
end a year and begin a new one.
Everything
we do, say and think matters to God—they should matter to us. The choice is
ours: Chip, chip, chip.
