Hope For Today "Inventory"

We take time to read God’s Word each day because we want the truth of God to seep into our souls and go deeply into our being. Sometimes we have to slow down and read and reread and think about what we’ve read in order for the words to actually touch our hearts and do us some good. We get the most out of our time when we ask God’s Spirit to speak to us about it each time we read it. 

It's hard to admit weakness or mistakes.  We've all spent so much time covering up those things in one way or another. It is a real challenge and never easy to hear truth and admit truth when there is something negative in our lives that needs to be faced.

Many of us want to have healthy bodies and therefore are careful about what we eat and drink. Some of us exercise.  Some of us do better at these things than others. Jesus wasn’t against us having healthy bodies but He taught us that the way we behave with our bodies is only as good as what we fill our minds and hearts with.

It is so easy to find fault with what others are doing and to criticize them.  The truth is, it doesn't help to focus on anyone’s flaws and failures, and it distracts from the time and energy we give to God's transforming work in our own lives. While we may think that we are controlling and changing other people by criticizing them, it rarely has that effect. God has a better option for us today.

We are naturally bent towards living in self-will and we live in a sinful broken world.  We get stained and germed-up every day and need the cleansing and refreshing God makes available.  Just as we “clean as we go” in our homes each day, so God wants us to allow Him to clean us regularly as we go through our day.

Just like oil and water, good and evil just don’t mix.  One place where this principle is clearly seen is in our thought life.  We can’t think about things that are not good and hope to continue to walk well. The Bible reminds us:

How much of our lives do we live distracted by good, but less important things, to the neglect of what is most important?

It’s a useful practice to take regular inventory of our lives and to continue to make any needed adjustments to our thoughts, motives, or actions.  This helps us maintain spiritual, emotional, and relational health.  That’s the purpose of Step 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Our life with God should be one of continual learning and growing.  We need to be diligent as we reflect on our motives and behaviour in situations that arise. We are reminded of this in Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Today we consider the priority God gives us to give an account of ourselves to Him rather than spending time and attention passing judgment on others.