My great-nephew (I call him my grandson when he's not being a little terror) was in a mood for whining about everything when he woke up. My niece is not feeling well and had to fast all night to go out early for blood work.
I'm fine with a whining child as long as they aren't making themselves (or me) sick. DJ was not making himself (or me) sick, but he was tap-dancing on my last good nerve. But he's three and he's not usually in his worst moods for long. However, my niece isn't feeling well today so I advised her to give in to his wanting to eat while sitting on the couch instead of at the table.
That advice about picking your battles is one that my mother used, but she added a reason: "Pick your battles because the war isn't over."
Good advice, right? Especially for Christians today. The problem some of us have is that we don't focus on the fact that we really are in a war. We don't recognize the battles we face every moment of every day. And there are many battles all around us:
- Sin that we have to deal with in our own lives.
- Dealing with acquaintances, neighbors, co-workers - even loved ones - who aren't helpful in our lives of faith.
- Struggling with the assault on our senses from the media and the world we are living in.
- Trying to love and witness to people who don't really want to hear it.
The list goes on and on. We wake up every day to a life lived in a body that tries to defeat us. We have to deal with health issues, stress issues, mental issues, etc. That's to be expected. We are human with these bodies made of flesh and blood.
The battles we pick are often ones to do with these bodies. We work at looking younger, thinner, and more 'beautiful'. We will endure all kinds of stress and mental anguish by working for more money and prestige and other ego-related reasons.
The battles we don't even recognize are the ones that the Bible told us about.
Watch how we choose our battles:
- The Bible tells us to take care of our bodies and minds, but we don't even read about that. When a celebrity or popular doctor tells us about some new miracle diet, exercise or meditation technique, we jump right on it.
- We spend a lot of our time bad-mouthing preachers and other Christians than we do praying for them. Meanwhile, we can't live without the music and movies and other entertainment featuring people who not only hate our God, but are working to promote other gods.
- The Bible has laid out all the information we need about what will happen and how we are to respond, but we won't study that. We read stories in the news and don't question any of the sources or motivations.
- God gave us answers for dealing with and enduring life's problems. When we get stressed and anxious, we seek out all sorts of strange therapies, illegal drugs and questionable methods for relief.
- We have access to the greatest Therapist, Friend and Comforter, but we go on Facebook and Twitter and all the other social media sites to gossip, discuss our sex lives, and play passive-aggressive games with people in our lives.
One of my biggest mistakes was spending more time studying the world around me than preparing for the world to come. I got caught up in and fascinated by talented people I admired; trends and social cultures; and trying to be recognized and accepted for the few talents I have.
Now that I am focusing on God and the Scriptures, I am learning to more carefully pick my battles. It helps a lot that I know what the true battles are.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)
In Part Two, I'm going to talk about my personal battles with specific things.
Peace
--Free
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