God wants
your life to be the best. It requires implementing an action plan and
developing a well-ordered heart.
June’s Awakening, Day 8
Employ your time in improving yourself
by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have
labored hard for.
—Socrates
It is not the busy skimming over
religious books or the careless hastening through religious duties which makes
for a strong Christian faith. Rather, it is unhurried meditation on the gospel
truths and the exposing of our minds to these truths that yield the fruit of a
sanctified character.
—Maurice Roberts
And whatever you do, whether in word or
deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through him. Colossians
3:17 NIV
A
Well-Ordered Heart. This is the last of the inward spiritual disciplines
that we will discuss. A well-ordered heart is one that strives to lead a
life of purity in thought, word, and deed, and seeks to develop a “rule of
life” that goes beyond a simple balance. Balance often carries the notion of
more manageable, more convenient, and more pleasant, but not necessarily
well-ordered. Well-ordered is the mission statement that God has for your life
and the means to get there.
A
well-ordered heart recognizes that our inherent problem comes from within—we
truly are often our own worst enemy. The underlying life rule that the
well-ordered heart should follow is this—to love the right things, to the right
degree, in the right way, with the right kind of love (remember agape?). When
our heart is well-ordered, we are not only increasingly free from sin, we are
also increasingly free from the desire to sin. Developing a well-ordered heart
requires a plan of action for all areas of your life that needs to be
continually implemented and fine-tuned. It will not just happen without
intentional commitment and reorganization of priorities and a dedication to overseeing
that the process is moving progressively along on God’s directed path.
Your
rule of life should have at its center the inclusion of God and His presence in
every aspect of your daily existence. You must develop strategies, priorities,
objectives, and goals intentionally to produce a new spiritual awareness and
closeness with Him and allow Him to speak life into every area of your life.
Try to keep your plan simple, practical, workable, and write it down and follow
it diligently. It should include priority setting for prayer time, Bible time
(both study and meditation), relationship building and growth, workplace ethics
and character, your service unto the Lord, recreation time, fulfilling your
call and life mission, and putting your finances in order—including plans to
get out of debt, stay out of debt, budgeting and priority spending, giving unto
the Lord, saving and investing for college or retirement or the future, life
and health insurance, and the ever important last will and testament. God wants
every aspect of your life to be well-ordered, the physical, the mental, the
emotional, and the spiritual. Seek His help and the help of trusted
professionals to take you where God wants you to be—with a well-ordered heart
and a rule of life action plan.
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