The following meditation is from Doug Hood's book,
Nurture Faith: Five Minute Meditations to Strengthen Your Walk with Christ.
“Instead, dress yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ,
and don’t plan to indulge your selfish desires.”
Romans 13:14 (Common
English Bible)
For some, the experience of the
Christian faith lacks the heroic and adventurous texture of the lives of great
biblical personalities. Safe, comfortable boredom is more often presented today
in the life of those who follow Christ. Absent are uncalculated risks, the
thrill of battling difficulties and the appetite for conflict and victory. The
faith has become soft, the individual life one of self-indulgent behavior. The
demands of scripture go unnoticed, perhaps on purpose, and everything is made
too easy. The casualty is a faith without power or interest.
In more honest moments, such
people will often confess to a desire for something more, something
deeper. A world of risk and adventure is
preferred over the predictable routines that our lives fall into. The zest of
struggle and conquest teases our minds and the ever-present possibility of
calamity and pain doesn’t diminish the lure. Rather, these are the factors
which make possible human happiness; joy the product of discipline and effort.
Such a faith remains within the
reach of anyone who desires it. It arrives along the route of spiritual
discipline. Unlike military discipline, a discipline that is imposed from
without, spiritual discipline emerges from within. It is self-imposed. It builds spiritual muscle that is revealed
in unquestionable character and contagious personalities. Discipline may seem,
for a time, to be a thing of pain and not joy, but those who are trained by it
are quick to demonstrate a life that is stronger, healthier and marked by
joyful anticipation. Faith, properly experienced, becomes life’s grandest
adventure.
Those who endeavor to claim such
an experience of faith are addressed in these few words from Romans, “dress
yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.” The daily discipline of arising from bed
and dressing our bodies with clothes appropriate for the day is purposely
chosen. Dress the spiritual body each morning, as the physical body is dressed.
Strive to eliminate unchristian attitudes and thoughts and consider how to be
more loving of others. Remain alert to the needs of others and less preoccupied
with your own. And do not neglect the regular reading and reflection upon God’s
Word in the Bible. Think of how to please Christ throughout the day and such
strength of faith as never known before will be given to you.
Joy,
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