Step By Step
Written by: Nancy Purtlebaugh
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Our minister, Josh, asked us to pray each day this week with this simple prayer, “Holy Spirit, what in me still looks more like the world than Jesus?” I don’t know about you, but this question convicted me. We are inundated with the world everywhere we turn. Quite frankly, unless you live under a rock you are aware of the constant ways the world is vying for our attention. We have social media, streaming platforms, books, tv, movies, ads, music-all telling us how we should live, who we should be. And we listen to those messages more than we should. As soon as those platforms know what we are listening to, watching, clicking on-all of a sudden, they fill our feeds.
For instance, I often look at workout videos so I can plan what workouts I am going to do for the week. If you go look at my Youtube, or my Instagram you will see that my feed is full of different workout videos. Not only that, but because these platforms-especially Instagram know that I am interested in health and fitness my feed has also become full of all of these people that are telling me what I need to do to be the “most fit” and “lose the most weight”. Everywhere I turn someone is telling me something different though. One person says I should eat no carbs or sugar, someone else says I need to eat 200 grams of protein, I need more water, I need to run, or I shouldn’t run…there is so much information. I can go down a rabbit hole in a second. What started out as a simple search for me to find my workouts for the week can easily turn into an obsession about how I should look. Then I can start obsessing over-have I eaten too much, not eaten enough? Am I doing the right kinds of exercises for my age? Why don’t I look like the lady who is doing the same workouts as me? What was meant to be used for good-keeping the temple where the Spirit dwells in shape, turned to evil-causing me to obsess over how I look and comparing myself to the person in the video/picture. On top of that because of my past of having an eating disorder, this could cause even bigger problems for me. This might not be your thing, your issue. But we all have something that we are drawn to more than Jesus at times. We all have something (or someTHINGS) that is causing us to walk out of step with Him, rather than in step with Him.
How do you know if you are walking in step with the Spirit? We know Galatians 5:22-23 tells us- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Is your life producing that kind of fruit? Or do you see more of the opposite most of the time? More hate, sadness, anxiety, impatience, cruelty, estrangement, overindulgence? Sure we will all deal with those things sometimes, but I’m asking MOST of the time. I can tell you right now-when I get to the place of obsessiveness over my body image there is no joy and there is no peace. This is not the kind of fruit that I want to produce. I know it’s not good for me.
There are some simple steps that we can take to walk more in line with Him, rather than the world:
1. We can be in the Word more. When we are in the Word, we are closer with Him and are more aware of our sin. If we aren’t aware of our sin, how can we change?
2. We can pray. Prayer is just talking to God. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy but simply a conversation. Talk to Him and listen to His voice. Ask others to pray for you too, and offer to pray for them. Prayer IS powerful!
3. We need to turn away from those things we are putting above God. This might be a process, for some it could happen right away depending on what your issue is. For me, I can choose to turn off my reels-or to not get on Instagram for a while. If you need professional help for whatever your problem is, please reach out to someone at our church (Victory Christian Church) or whatever church you belong to so they can help point you in the right direction.
Just know that you aren’t alone. With the Spirit living in you, you can overcome this! Remember as Josh said on Sunday-Grace doesn’t just forgive your sin, but frees you from your sin.
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:18
I dare you, as Josh did-to pray that prayer- “Holy Spirit, what in me still looks more like the world than Jesus?”, and allow the Holy Spirit to work with you, step by step; to walk in the way He wants you to go.