Manage Output By Dealing With Input

 Input or Output

Many of us want to have healthy bodies and therefore are careful about what we eat and drink. Some of us exercise.  Some of us do better at these things than others.

Seeking to have a healthy body is a great goal but have we given much thought to what would be helpful for us to have a healthy mind and heart?   After all, Jesus teaches us that the way we behave with our bodies is only as good as what we fill our minds and hearts with.

Jesus said:  It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.

Mark 7:16

No matter how long ago it was that we first turned our will and our life over to the care of God, we are still early learners when it comes to understanding an putting God’s ways into practice. The problem is, as we’ve said so many times before, we often think we know what will work better than what God is telling us. 

We need to let old ideas be washed out of our minds and hearts so new behaviours of trust and obedience to what God is showing us can be expressed in our current circumstances.

We need to read God’s Word and pray to take in His good new ways and then put them into practice so those experiences are written on our hearts. This kind of input/output will bring about the change we seek.

So the Lord is waiting to show his mercy to you. He wants to rise and comfort you. The Lord is the God who does the right thing, so he will bless everyone who waits for his help.

Isaiah 30:18

Loving God, We want to be cleaned up and freed from anything that would cause us to stumble in our new life with You. 

Help us today to put Your new ways into our hearts so new and right words and behaviours can come out in our daily behaviours and interactions with others.

We are so grateful for Your kind promise to give us mercy and comfort when we do that.   You know what’s right.  You will show us what is right if we will take time to pay attention to what You are showing us.  And beyond that, how lovely it is that You are just waiting to bless us when we make ourselves available to You.   Thank you. Amen