“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22
What started off as a good idea really became one. I had something I wanted to give to someone else and needed a means of transport. Going to the garage, I opened the drawer where my wife keeps all the plastic grocery bags and pulled… nothin.’ I pulled again… only harder. As the drawer slowly opened, plastic bags belched forth like a clogged sewer! It was only THEN I realized… we have a problem.
It’s funny how time changes things. Growing up all we had was paper bags or boxes. One of the rituals of grocery shopping was folding the bags when we were done and sticking them beside the wall and refrigerator. That evolved into, “paper or plastic?” Apparently someone thought that lightweight plastic bags took up less room, and the game changed. Since then, another bright idea has come to pass. And now…it has become personal.
I wasn’t PLANNING a change. It was an issue that I cared nothing about. Honestly, until I discovered that ‘I’ am a ‘Bag Man’ with FAR too much wealth, I never gave it a thought. But now I realize I COULD have thought about it sooner. I used to find bags filled with bags in a corner of the garage. I would just throw them into the recycling bin. Now, THEY don’t want ‘em either!
People were created in God’s image for a reason. Animals do not have a spirit, and therefore do not face decisions about recycling, transportation, swimming pool maintenance… or Heaven! Humans do! But mankind generally doesn’t make positive changes in their lives until ‘inconveniently’ affected by negatives. The erupting ‘Bag Drawer’ is just an example.
The Word of God was NOT written by God to inconvenience us. He didn’t sit down and classify all the fun stuff as ‘prohibitive sin’ just to mess with us. He genuinely LOVES us and wants our BEST. Unfortunately, man thinks he is smarter and would rather fight. Only time and unwelcome consequences have a habit of forcing us to DEAL with our own ‘SCHTUFF!’
My wife was shocked when I told her, “I think I am going to work on making a change,” because being stubborn, I rarely do! I said, “I think I am going to take some of these reusable cloth grocery bags and put them in my truck,” yielded a shock of disbelief! But I KNOW it’s a good move! Even though I must continually WORK on it to make ‘the change’ effective! Reading and applying God’s Word to the areas in my life does the same thing, making the present more pleasant, to receiving an eternal reward. What unpleasant situation has God been using to try to teach YOU? Maybe it’s time to just make the change and ‘DO IT!’
