By Sandra Gibson
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
As someone who has been working in the maintenance field for over 31 years, I am well aware of the work that goes into keeping equipment up and running in order to achieve its maximum useful life. This work, in a nutshell, we call maintenance.
There are two basic types of Maintenance programs namely Proactive Maintenance where there is planned and scheduled services, with checks being carried out at regular intervals with the objective of preventing failure or reducing the likelihood of failure; and Reactive Maintenance where there is a response or as the word says, reaction to what has happened.
Both types of maintenance activities are necessary, but how much better it would be if we can all have a Proactive Maintenance program in place, not just for our equipment, but for every aspect of our lives- for our relationship with God, our relationships with our spouses, children and friends, to name a few. We must remember that for anything to be successful, work and effort have to be part of the equation.
The Apostle Paul at Romans 12:2 fervently implored the believers at Rome and us, not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We should not be following this world system. Yes, we are in the world but this is not the city we seek. The world is all about lust, flesh and pride (1 John 2:16) to which we should have no part. So yes, day by day, we are to change our mindset. Let the mind of Christ be in us. Just as to keep that piece of equipment up and running as new we carryout daily, weekly or monthly checks and servicing, we have to daily fasten our eyes upon Christ and His Word. Daily seek God’s face. Daily seek forgiveness of our sins and seventy times seven, daily forgive those who have offended us. Daily walk in the Spirit. Daily have conversation and communication with God. Daniel had this kind of renewal, that even when they wanted him to conform to their way, he continued his meeting with God three times a day.
Remember how excited we were when God first reconciled us to Himself. We couldn’t wait to talk to Him. We couldn’t keep our heads from out of the Bible. Let’s not forget assembling ourselves together, we couldn’t wait to have fellowship with our new found family in the Kingdom of God.
As time progressed and responsibilities increased, some of that excitement may have worn off. The cares of this life, may have us so locked off, that we can’t seem to get out of its grip, and its choking the life out of us. But Saints of God and friends, we can break that cycle by renewing our minds. Only renewed minds can prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
We should never have our relationship with God defined as a reactive relationship only. We only seek God out when something has gone wrong or when we are in trouble. Of a certainty emergencies will come, and we will need to pull brothers and sisters to pray with us and take us through, but don’t let this be the norm, let us pray ahead. Cover every area of our lives in pray. Don’t let us wait until our children are grown and looking for partners to now put in a quick pray. We should have been doing that from the time they were in arms, same thing for their jobs - praying ahead. Job would deposit prayer for his children continually. The Bible tells us at Job 1:5, that Job's sons would regularly have feasts at their houses and Job would get up early in the morning and offer sacrifice for them. He did this just in case during the feasts, his sons had sin against God. The Bible says Job did this continually. One may say but his children still all died at the hand of a great wind. Yes, that is true, but what is even more true is that Job had his children covered with pray, so that when they died they would be able to see the Living Redeemer.
Friends, do not be comfortable and relaxed in your walk with God. Be sure to know and understand that any time you do not have a Preventative Program in place, you have no other alternative than to react. 1 Corinthians 10:12 tells us we should take heed; pay attention to our relationship with God, so that we would not think we are standing while we are actually in a fallen state. There is no “one-off-ness” with God, we have to constantly examine our lives (1 Corinthian 11:28). We have to day by day maintain that relationship with our God, our Creator who not only gives life but is the source of our life.
So Let’s work on maintaining our relationship with God. If you haven’t yet started, today is a good day to do so!
God bless you!
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