Starting Your Day Off Right

This morning...“What’s your strategy for overcoming the flesh’s desire to turn your eyes away from the Lord?”“I read my Bible every morning as part of my routine,” my wife responded.“So true, isn’t it...how vulnerable we are to the trickery of our own devices!”She continued, “Let me put it this way, if I don’t read my Bible, I’m doomed for the day. If I don’t put on the full armor of God, then I find I’m just too weak to make it through the day in one piece.” Of course, she was referencing the following passage.Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.“Ahhh, it’s like being washed over every morning by the Word, being cleansed of the stink from the day before, huh?”“Yes, I don’t know how I could make it through the day without it,” she concurred. Wise woman.Sometimes I ask folks questions to get a sense of their understanding of certain doctrines (it’s the shepherd in me); other times, I’m simply curious as to how they practically go about applying the Word as ointment in their lives. People live and describe their experiences differently than each other, so I learn an awful lot by just shutting my mouth and listening (that’s sage advice right there, just sayin’ - wink, wink). My wife is no different. In fact, given our intimacy, she’s a real blessing in terms of growing my own perspective on godliness.The reason I asked that initial question about “strategy” this morning was because I had just finished reading Exodus 32, when Moses had to be sent down by God to deliver the Israelites, whom the Lord God called “obstinate”, from their idolatry. I was sitting in my recliner reading my Bible over my coffee and I called over my shoulder to my wife, who was getting ready to go to school (she teaches first grade elementary) - I was laughing aloud to myself at the time - and told her the passage I was reading. She laughed along with me and shook her head. “Moses wasn’t even gone that long!”It doesn’t take us long to defect from God’s will, does it? If His people, Israel, revealed one thing to us throughout the Old Testament, it’s got to be this. God is so patient.Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 

Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”So, let’s get this straight. Moses was called up to the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, which took a mere forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18). And remember, this is the same man who led Israel out of Egypt by the hand of God. It’s hard to believe that after just a little over a month, they turned to idolatry, seeking a “god that will go before [them]” (Exodus 32:1). As incredible as this may seem, we must each ask ourselves, how long does it takes for us to turn away from the Lord for idols?...hmmm. For many people, it seems, forty days is a long time!I’d argue that most people possess the loyalty of a hungry dog - whoever’s got the snack becomes their best friend for the moment.Satan knows what kinds of “snacks” we like, so he manufactures them daily. He’s got a whole basket full of them ready for us each and every day, on full display, too. And he’s like Burger King, pumping scrumptious scents into the air, tempting our senses at every turn. If we’re hungry, we are doomed! We must learn to fill our bellies with the very bread of life, the Word of God (John 1:14; 6:35), so that we don’t go out into the world far more temptable than we might otherwise be. The Word is our sustenance and our protection.I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.To be “sanctified” this way is to be cleansed by the Word, which is to say that it washes over us supernaturally. This daily exercise shouldn’t be considered optional, as it rids us of filth that is clinging to our souls from our previous day in the world. If we neglect washing up, we exist in a weakened condition. The longer we go without washing, the filthier we get. As my wife intimated, this is never a good way to start one’s day.If the Lord Jesus Christ isn’t the priority in your life, then who or what is? If He’s not the One you begin each day with, then how are you starting your days? It’s amazing how many people take baths or showers every day - God forbid they smell and be offensive to the sensibilities of others - yet, spiritually, these same people reek to the high heavens and think nothing of it. The Lord God appreciates the sweet aroma of sanctification, much more than any person or idol could ever appreciate how clean you supposedly are physically.

But even beyond all of that, remember that beginning your day with the Word means putting on the only armor capable of protecting your soul from your enemies. What good is smelling like a bar of soap in the midst of battle if you lack any form of protection for yourself?For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
Love in Christ,

Ed Collins