25 Pounds Overweight

 

2 Timothy 3:1-9

 (Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy%203%3A1-9&version=NIV;NLT

  

Mary Tyler Moore passed away recently. Although she was primarily known for her starring role in the series The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I remember her first from The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 60’s.

 

You may recall that, in the series, she and Dick Van Dyke, her husband, slept in twin beds. This was due to the TV censors of the day. Over 50 years later, can you imagine that same scenario for a couple today; married or not? My how times have changed.

 

I bring this up not to bemoan how bad things are today, or to pine for the “good old days”, but to make a point. How did we get to where we are today? The answer: It was

little by little. It’s kind of like waking up one morning and weighing yourself only to find that you are 25 pounds overweight. It didn’t happen overnight.

 

In the passage today, Paul warned Timothy to watch out for the following:

 

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.           NIV

 

The problem with this list is that there are all these little in-between steps that lead up to the behavior, and most of us can get caught up in any one of them. So instead of a list to watch for in others, it really is a list to watch for in ourselves.

 

You know, to make sure you don’t wake up one morning and you’re 25 pounds overweight.

 

 

 

 

 

The Story - Chapter 8 - Judges 4

Groundhog Day-all over again
Look around at our world today. Does it resemble the days of long, long ago? The terrain and the everyday setting we live in are different. The conveniences we use as part of daily routine would not be recognizable to those who lived in the day of Deborah. Our means of transportation differ vastly, as do the appliances and other amenities we can’t live without. But, our hearts are the same. Our human desires and yearnings are similar.

I wonder how many times is our behavior is deserving of a comparable comment like the lines we read over and over again. “…the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD.” (Judges 4:1) Examining my own past I shudder at the reality of all the times I would be deserving of this same statement.

So, what do we do about this? How do we change if, looking back, we see the same unfaithful, despicable conduct repeating throughout each generation? Recognizing the seriousness of sin is the first step toward removing it from our lives. In recovery circles, step 10 says, “We continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.” This step is a key concept for change.

By examining my actions each evening before closing my eyes for sleep, I can stay on top of my actions and motives. By confessing my shortcomings on a daily basis and asking God to forgive and to change me will help with tomorrow’s outcome. God works on us every time we allow Him access to our hearts. Like the Israelites, we are given opportunity after opportunity to do the next right thing.
Read Judges 4 here

Listen to Judges 4 here