Assess Your Activity
God's activity in our lives provide us the opportunity to live life more abundantly. Take a moment to ask yourself, Does my daily activity do the same? This has to be answered honestly because your activity is an important part of your spiritual training. The word activity can be defined as the state of being active. In order to accomplish the goals we've set for ourselves or more importantly the goals that God has set for us, we must be active. James 2: 14-17 explains the significance of our activity. The GNB (Good News Bible) translation of this verse states the following: “My brothers and sisters, what good is it for people to say that they have faith if their actions do not prove it? Can that faith save them? Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don't have enough to eat. What good is there in your saying to them, “God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!” — if you don't give them the necessities of life? So it is with faith: if it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead.” Anyone can talk a good game, but not mean or put an action behind what they're talking about. Why talk about going to college if you don't plan on applying to one? As The Message translation of James 2: 17 states "Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?” You can't start a business by just talking about it, and you won't lose weight by talking about joining the gym. You have to go there and be active!
Another way to define activity is a behavior or action of a particular kind. One of the quotes from a previously written blog came to mind after reading this definition: "Doing excessive spending in unnecessary places could be the difference between where you are and where you want to be" (Spending Habits) Sometimes we're active but we display it in the wrong places. This is why I appreciate the Lenten Fast in the month of March. In addition to eliminating specific foods, I decided to eliminate the use of social media outside of posting inspirational messages. I realized that the time I used to aimlessly browse on social media could be utilized to prepare a blog, pray, read, or plan out my goals for the rest of the year. These things contribute to my spiritual training not watching Snapchat videos without a significant purpose. We have to realize that being active in the wrong place will not get us where we need to be. Going to the club or bar every weekend won't help you get a promotion or start a business. Spending hours aimlessly scrolling through Facebook doesn't contribute to your acceptance into college. These could be the things preventing you from reaching your goals, and becoming the man or woman that God wants you to be.
Actively revisiting your past doesn't help either. You can lose a good man or woman if you continuously relive relationships that didn't work out. The blessings that God prepared for you are ahead, but we can't receive these new blessings with an old mindset. God washes away our sins to provide us another opportunity to pursue everything that we've been praying for. Take advantage of this! God sacrificed his only son for you to have this opportunity. This says a lot about his faith in you, but his faith without our work is dead. We will only go as far as we are willing to work. God has done his part, now it's our own turn! Let's get to work!
