“Devote yourself to p___________, being watchful and thankful. And p______ for us too, that God may open a door…” (Colossians 4:2) Once again I have gleaned another nugget of wisdom from C.S Lewis’ wonderful little book The Screwtape Letters. Seeing life from the eyes of a demon is both entertaining and surprisingly insightful. In chapter 13, the affectionate Uncle Screwtape is giving some sage advice to his novice understudy and nephew on how to keep young Christians away from Jesus. Here is one tidbit that is, sadly, so true… “As one of the humans has said, active habits are strengthened by repetition but passive ones are weakened. The more often he (the new believer) feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.” Now let me tell you, as a person who has been following Jesus for a while now, I wish I would've heard and understood this sooner. James 2:26 puts it like this, “Faith apart from works is dead.” Most of us are masters at talking things to death, or even singing about them. However, it is in the doing where most of us fall short. That is the point of Uncle Screwtape’s advice - - get people excitedly talking about what they are going to do and by the time they are done talking and feeling, they are too tired to do what they have been wanting to do in the first place. We fail to do because we so often mistake words for deeds. And this is especially true when it comes to the most important part of a Christian’s life. The problem is, I don’t want to talk about it. This discipline, or practice is so important that I am choosing not to name it. I am choosing not to name it because in the naming, most likely, we will stop doing. When it comes to this one thing I would like to simply say, “Just do it, don’t talk about it. Do it.” But as a reader, you are probably wondering what it is I think we should do because if I don’t name it you won’t know what it is so you can do it? Do you see my dilemma? I feel like Vizzini from the Princess Bride who is at a logical impasse...well I am at a spiritual impasse, “If I mention it, you will probably not do it. But I have to mention it so you know what to do.” Hmmm… O.k., O.k. I will give you some hints:
You see, if you talk about it I guarantee that you won’t do it. In fact, I have read so many books on it that I feel like an expert in it; but I know that I am not, because reading isn’t doing and I don't just do it because I read about it. I have even waxed eloquent about it (that is an antiquated way to say I preached with power) only to find that most people I just got done preaching to still never do it. Screwtape was right, getting excited about a thing is not doing a thing. So what is the answer? Do that thing. It doesn’t matter how you do it, don’t talk about it with others, just do it. The more you talk about it the less you will do. But you may be wondering, how do I do it? By doing it. The more you do it the more of a habit it becomes. But let’s not talk about it. I’m done talking.
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