So then, considering that God has provided all we need to live victoriously, how is it that we fail so often? That can only be attributed to the fact that we fail to appropriate what God made available. When we do that the outcome is predictable—we fail. And that’s a big deal! Even “little” failures lead to big problems and greater failures. We prevent this by practicing what is commonly called the Christian disciplines— Bible study, prayer, etc. Make no mistake about it, any Christian who neglects these things will fail. The fact is, and please listen, they have failed already in that they neglected these things. But they will fail even more because of it. I guess you could say, they fail before they fail.
One of the biggest and most common problems with Christians is that they generally fail to associate their “small” failures to the neglect of these things– these “big” things that are treated as minor matters. In other words they don’t see the seriousness of neglecting the things that would have prevented their failure. We just don’t realize the danger of neglecting these things or the value of doing them—at least not until it’s too late. It’s a bit like not brushing your teeth—it’s no big deal until your teeth start rotting.
It would make a big difference if we all understood that when God issues a command, sets forth a principle, or gives a warning it is for our good. As has been said, When God says,”Don’t” He means, “Don’t hurt yourself”, and when He says,”Do”, He means, “help yourself”. So when God instructs you to read the Scriptures and pray He does so for a good reason. We do ourselves good when we obey. We do ourselves harm if we don’t. We cannot ignore these things without suffering the consequences.
Now, think of all the various ways in which we fail— a covetous attitude, a bitter spirit, a sour disposition, angry outburst, unkind words, prideful boasting, etc. We ought to see these as failures rather than mere weaknesses. But we should also see them as something more. It is a sign of neglect and an evidence of rebellion. It is a refusal to do as God commands. To put it bluntly– it is sin!
To keep from repeating these sins we must deal with the cause. Merely apologizing for the wrong might seem to settle the dust for a while, but unless we deal with the cause we will soon repeat ourselves. Getting to the cause and establishing prevention requires getting back to the basics of Christian living– back to the Bible, prayer, etc. Until we do we that we’re just dealing with the fruit, rather than the root, of our problems. To achieve victory we have to avail ourselves of everything God provides. There is great preventive power in God’s Word, but it is of no benefit to those who don’t read it.
It is a sad thing that so many people go through their entire lives troubled by the same things, failing over and over again. And most of them always have an excuse. The hot tempered man says,”I’m Irish”. The covetous person says, “We were poor”. The person with a sour attitude says, “If you had been in my shoes”. And the list goes on and on. They always have an excuse for their failure. But the reality is that the cause for every failure is the same— the neglect of things that produce Christian character. Stop using the Bible as a paper weight and read it. Start spending quality time in prayer. Confess every known sin immediately. Get busy doing as God commands. Then you will notice a change in your attitude and actions. Keep doing what you’re doing and you will get what you’ve got. Hopefully you’re not satisfied with that. God has something better for you. You can live victoriously if you will stop limiting what God wants to do in you, for you, through you, and with you. Pay attention to what you have been considering “little” things and you will soon notice a big difference.–HDS
