Jeremiah 17:7–10 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.’(vv9–10)
A decision to follow Jesus is like lifting a stone and exposing what lies underneath. We find many creepy crawlies in the dank darkness in a life previously hidden from God’s light. It takes courage to make an inventory of the work to be done, an ongoing task because we are responsible for ensuring that we keep up the maintenance on our temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19–20). So whether we are a new disciple, or a tried and tested pilgrim, a spiritual audit is always helpful to benchmark attitudes, actions and aspirations against God’s purpose for our life (Psa. 33:11).
Walking with Jesus every day is consistently to consider how our life can reveal God’s grace. There are countless words of encouragement and advice in the pages of the New Testament to help us establish a lifestyle built upon Jesus’ promises that influence our daily decisions and relationships; friend, stranger and foe. Some choices must be made in a heartbeat, God’s heartbeat we pray, whilst others have long-term implications and we must process, pray and speak with others. Remember, God always entrusts us with the decision -making; when we feel pressured into, or uncomfortable with, taking any course of action, then press the pause button. If we follow Jesus under duress we sacrifice the freedom of the Spirit and we are unlikely to stay the course.
SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER: Psa. 32:1–8; Esth. 4:6–17; Matt. 7:13–23; Col. 3:1–17.
A PRAYER TO MAKE: ‘Lord, help me care for my temple of the Holy Spirit according to Your blueprint. Amen.’ (Psa. 127:1)
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