You can’t guess how many times the phrase has been heard in my family, “It’s time to start eating healthy.” You can’t guess because I can’t even guess, and it’s my family! When that intense awareness arrives that we have as a collective unit all fallen too far off the bandwagon, we begin to devise a plan. Exercise, more water, lower carbs, more water, leafy greens, and more water: you get the picture. Also, every time, we must remove all bad foods from the house and make a commitment never to buy such items again. These delicious snacks will lead us down the path to ruin. They must be eliminated.
Of course, no cookie ever made me eat it. But I have chosen to eat many cookies. My will at times is just too weak to resist eating it. So, it actually is a good move not to have it in the pantry. There is no reason to unnecessarily tempt oneself.
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus goes to extremes to make this very point. He suggests that even if a body part causes us to sin, cut it off. Of course, my hand, eye, or foot has never forced me to do anything. However, the point is well taken that we cannot allow ourselves to fall back into the same patterns of sin, again and again. When applying this theme to stewardship, we cannot allow ourselves to come up against the same obstacles to mature discipleship, again and again.
When applying this theme to stewardship, we cannot allow ourselves to come up against the same obstacles to mature discipleship, again and again. If something tempts us to spend our money unwisely, or waste our time, or squander our talents and gifts, changes need to be made. Since we are not perfect, we will always find new obstacles along the way. When we realize we have fallen again, we need to make a change, and empty our spiritual pantries of all those bad cookies. Then we will be on the path again to good stewardship health.
Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS