Choosing to Do Nothing and to Just Sit There – The Thrill of Obedience Purity 1542

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I am M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mtforchrist.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or watch us on YouTube. Um, good morning. Today's photo of the shadow of my canine pal Harley walking the last few feet before turning into our countryside driveway under the silhouette of tree limbs and the last light of day on the horizon comes to us from yours truly as I captured the scene after sunset on Christmas Day. Well, it's Monday, December 30th, and I'm happy to announce that I currently have 24 hours of victory over the sugar demon that has been, uh, that has had free reign over my life for quite some time, as I have been weak in my determination to live a sugar-free life ever since I made the transition of becoming a vegetarian in November. Although I had victory over sugar in the past, I inexplicably opened the door to it again and am now choosing to eliminate it from my life once more. Changes in our habits can't happen all at once, and we have to measure our progress in baby steps and claim our victories one step at a time, one day at a time. To give up addictions or things that are bad for us, we have to accept the pain of the process of change. It's difficult to not do what we've always been doing, and we have to accept the pain of the reality of the new normal. There will be a void in our lives where our addiction used to be, and we will have to fill it with something else, or we will suffer. I remember the first time I quit smoking cigarettes years ago. I really struggled with both these pains. Not only is nicotine physically addictive,. And getting that monkey off your back can take 2 to 4 weeks of real physical withdrawal. Um, but the behavior of smoking can become, uh, a mindless part of your life.

Lighting up and smoking a cigarette was a constant and persistent habit.

And in order to get victory over it, I had to tell everyone I was quitting— confession and accountability— and I had to remove the cigarettes from my presence— elimination— and I also had to tell myself that I didn't need them anymore. Proclamation, and that I wasn't a smoker anymore. Identity. While I could understand that I could tell myself that I didn't need to smoke, I usually— because I could usually delay or say no to the temptation to smoke when it wasn't appropriate or it literally made me sick. I struggle with the idea of the new normal without it ever in my life. I remember honestly asking myself, so what do you do when you quit smoking? Do you just sit there doing nothing? While there could be some replacement habits you could choose to do, and, you know, and until you're in the clear, the answer to those questions is yeah, you just sit there and do nothing. So I have to earnestly continue in the process of doing nothing when it comes to consuming sugar, just like I have successfully done with cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and sexual morality. I know, I know how to do nothing.

I just have to do it.

I just have to get in the habit of eating healthy again and to not consciously choose to do the next right thing when it comes to food. With addictions, it's best not to focus on what you crave and instead just choose to do the right thing. It's a proactive, positive orientation approach to choose the good rather than lamenting over the life we are choosing to say goodbye to. I'm rather embarrassed about my food failures, uh, because I have successfully walked away from all the other addictions I've had and I haven't looked back. So as we begin the new year, I am humbled once again and am choosing to do the next right thing by leaning on the Lord for strength and wisdom to surrender to doing what's right as a steward to my body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and to forgive myself for my weaknesses and indulging in the flesh. The good news is that I know the Lord is faithful to help those who ask him, and he blesses those who obey the collected wisdom of his word. Speaking of the blessings of obedience, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotion for today speaks on this topic, so I'm sharing it on the blog today to encourage all of us to follow the Lord into all the blessings he has for us in the new year that is less than 48 hours away. Uh, Dr. Charles Stanley writes, the thrill of obedience. Walking by faith leads to unimaginable blessings. Christians sometimes approach obedience as a way to avoid the negative consequences of disobedience. When it happens, obeying becomes a heavy burden. But God intended our walk of faith, uh, our walk of faith to be a thrilling adventure, motivated by, motivated by our love for Jesus and our desire to please him. Obedience is about discovering more and more of God, not simply avoiding unpleasant outcomes. So, um, well, I'm sorry, some may equate doing God's will with the word burden because weighty decisions may be involved. Yet the Lord doesn't give us anything we can't handle. Our obedience in the smaller matters of life prepares us for the bigger— for bigger issues. Uh, when we place trust in the Lord, the Lord's omnipotence, and act on his prompting, life becomes exciting and we need not be fearful for two reasons. First, God has promised to walk through our challenges with us, and second, we already— he already knows the good that will result when we do what he asks. In fact, after taking one step in obedience, we will have opportunities to do so again. And to experience more of his goodness. As you walk into this new year, ask yourself, what is my next step of obedience? Amen. Instead of worrying about what you're going to do when you decide to give something up, or then, uh, for the new year and the big void, uh, that choosing to do nothing and just sit there will bring, look for the next step of obedience that the Lord is calling you to take. Those steps might include pray, study, read, meditate, work, serve, or rest. A sense of peace comes to us when we are walking in the spirit because God's ways are right and they bring blessings when they are obeyed. So choose God's path of goodness and righteousness and you will understand the blessings of being obedient. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on humility. Or pride. And, um, and that first, uh, today's verse is Luke 14:11, which says, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Today's verses—

oh, well, this is a—

yeah, today's verse is the first of two passages of scripture that fall under the second point of our Counseling Reference Guide resource section on humility.

And today, uh, that second point is listen carefully to what Jesus says.

Um, yeah, today's Bible verse reminds us to avoid self-promoting ourselves to the point of exaltation because the pride— because pride goes before our destruction and humility is waiting for those who boast of their own abilities. Boasting is a risky business. Not only do we run the risk of not being able to back up our claims of our own abilities, but we also enter the— enter into the dangerous area of idolatry as our self-praise is false worship. Making ourselves a god. So remember, God has given us everything we have, and we are not to be exalted. God is the only one worthy of worship or praise.

Amen.

Uh, today's— oh well, as always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. And today we continue sharing from Day by Day Along the Way by J.E.

Adams.

It's a 365-day devotional. We're on day 41, where Adams shares a portion of 2 John 4, which says, I was delighted that I found some of your children walking in the truth.

And J.E.

Adams writes, these children of the elect lady were living according to the truth, John reports. He delighted in the fact and said so. But you and I know that there is a form of rivalry in which one Christian attempts to justify his own sinful behavior by downing another who is walking in the truth. You hear such cutting words: "Oh, he's just acting super pious to impress others," or "She must think she's better than the rest of us." That's not the way John viewed proper behavior in a Christian. Notice he describes it as walking in the truth, that is to say, walking according to the truth revealed to us by the apostles. How encouraging these words must have been to the elect lady. Do you delight in the faithful walk of your brothers and sisters? Surely you should. The problem is that many of us are so self-centered we don't care one way or another about our brother in Christ. Why not begin by commending their behavior to others who would also be delighted to hear it? Perhaps as a result, you too will learn to delight in it as well. Amen.

Yes, we're supposed to walk according to God's word, walk in the truth. And unfortunately, our society is filled with false idols, people worshiping themselves or Uh, you know, inexplicably coming alongside of false religions because it's attractive or cool or whatever, you know. That's— a lot of people think of cultural diversity, but sometimes, um, giving honor to, uh, another culture's beliefs is, you know, actually entering into idolatry. Um, you know, cultural principles might have false religion stacked up behind it. And, um, you know, the book of Acts would direct us to destroy such things. Um, these things, you know, it's not an easy, easy stance to take because people will come against you, as these Christians will, you know, critic— criticize somebody who's walking right. Um, oh wow, they're trying to be super pious. Well, they're just trying to be obedient to the word. And, uh, rather than condemning them, you should praise them.

Uh, not exalt them, but, but praise them for following the Lord, uh, who shows us the truth. And, you know, that's what we try to do here at the blog, is follow the Lord.

And, uh, we're not perfect people.

We, you know, have my weaknesses for sugar, apparently, uh, that has to be dealt with.

But, um, you know, we're trying to do what's right according to God's word, and, uh, it's not It's not always easy because people will come against you. Um, yeah, and you know, that's why—

but however we find it to be the best life, um, as Charles Stanley wrote, it's blessings come from obedience.

And so we ask the question every day: have you fully surrendered to God? Um, are you putting anything above them? Are you putting your family above them? Um, are you putting yourself above, above him? Um, it's not the way it's supposed to be. We're supposed to humble ourselves and to, uh, to follow the Lord. Um, we've discovered that obedience is the pathway to peace and blessings, and walking in the Spirit gives us love, peace, joy, um, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and patience too, um, which we'll need as well. We decide to follow the Lord, but we encourage you to do it because it is the best way to live. And, um, you know, when we come alongside the Lord, he'll give us, you know, hope and a future and usually a purpose.

Part of my purpose is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church on Wednesday evenings. We start up again on January 8th. Right now we're taking a break for the holidays, but we'll be there next Wednesday to encourage people to walk, uh, according to the Spirit and to enter into Christian recovery and discipleship support group that where they can you know, lay those, those bad habits down.

Um, and, um, yeah, so if you're in the Upstate New York region, we encourage you to come along, uh, side us, and, uh, we can help you to get to know God better, or at least we can point you in the right direction.

Uh, anyway, uh, beyond that, we are also doing Celebrate Freedom online. Um, I'll be doing it as online teaching. I believe I'm going to be doing it one-on-one, meaning I'll be recording the sessions for you know, um, the 25 weeks or so, and then, uh, you know, making them available to anybody who wants to.

I'm not sure how that's going to work out, um, but, um, right now we're scheduled to be doing that on Monday evenings at 6:30 PM.

If you wanted to join, uh, and wanted to join it, um, you can go to mtforchrist.com and go to our group events page and sign up, and then you could be in the Zoom meeting with me as I record the lessons.

Um, but the Lord's put on my heart to do that, and I think I'm being humbled, um, in the process because nobody signed up yet. But we do the best we can, we do the next right thing, then let God pick up the slack. So we'll see how it goes.

Um, anyway, beyond that, we encourage anyone who's watching this message to check out, um, our online teachings and where that we believe you can find or increase your freedom in Christ.

Um, by listening to our teachings on Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, uh, among many other playlists that we have on our YouTube channel. Um, so we invite you to check those out. And, um, today I'm looking forward to, uh, my wife and I are going to the Adirondacks, um, to welcome in the new year and to celebrate our wedding anniversary, which is January 1st. So I'm looking forward to it. Um, yeah, yeah. But we always ask the question, are you empty for Christ too? If so, keep walking and talking to God. Not— just say a prayer and ask the Lord to reveal himself to you. Ask him to help you. Um, he's faithful to do that, and that's why we pray every day, like right now.

Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for another day in your kingdom.

Lord, we thank you for all you've done for us. We pray for you to help us, Lord. As we seek to do your will and be obedient to, uh, being a good steward to our bodies and our minds. Um, help us to follow you, Lord. We need your help. And, um, we also pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, Lord, that you come alongside them, their prayer request, their walk of faith, and give them encouragement as well, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.