No one likes to do more work than necessary.
We don’t sweep the floor before running a vacuum over it, and why wash the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher? How smart is it to do the work before turning it over to the machines that will really do the work for us?
Working on our computers is the same. Does it make sense to write our sentences on paper, only to retype them into our machine? We’re making ourselves extra work if we do.
When we have aids available to make our lives easier, it only seems smart to put them to good use. Take Thanksgiving dinner. We can slave for three days to get it perfect, but with a simple phone call, we can have a full meal, desserts included, delivered to our door, and for about the same cost as preparing the meal ourselves.
Consider this final example: Is it really vital to hand scrub each stain in our laundry basket, when our new washer has a special stain cycle to do just that? We have to turn loose of trying to do everything. We need to make it easy on ourselves.
That means in the spiritual world, too.
Ecclesiastes 10:10 gives us some very sound advice. If we have an iron tool, and we don’t take the time to sharpen it, then we’re forced to work harder to get the same job done.
So, let’s sharpen our spiritual ax. How do we do that? We must make God a part of all that we do. Here are three easy steps:
Step 1:
We can place a Bible at our bedside. Each night before shutting out the light, read a passage or two. Don’t make it a lot, because we can’t do that every night. We’ll manage it for a while and eventually give up. Read three paragraphs, more if it’s interesting. Then put the Book away. Studies have proven that the last thing we read or talk about before going to sleep is what most affects the dreams we have. Make it the Bible, and we’ll dream of God’s goodness all night long.
Step 2:
Say a prayer of thanksgiving upon first awakening. It doesn’t have to be long, just enough to recognize God as the giver of all good things. The trick is to make the prayer different every day. This isn’t about making the prayer follow a pattern, but rather about not letting it become rote. Having a very brief moment with God each morning sets the stage for us to recognize his presence throughout the rest of the day.
Step 3:
Mention God in conversation to at least one person each day. It doesn’t need to be spiritually significant, just something about God. Doing so makes us comfortable with God as part of our daily conversation, and in time, we will find it easier and easier to bring him up at opportune times.
Living with God makes life easier. It’s silly to go through our days without him. It’s like washing our car by hand when we have an automatic car wash just down the street. All we need to do is drive there.
Let’s let God do the scrubbing, and let’s enjoy the shine.
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