Spiritual Detox: Detoxing Your Actions

There are those who wish to change the world, but is that really what God has called us to do?

Hello everyone and welcome to Strengthen Your Walk … I’m Kim Crabill.

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There’s a visual I use to help me remember my power to change others. I use a map and a hula hoop. Remember those?

Imagine stretching a map of the world and taping it inside the hula hoop. Now, holding the hula hoop over your head, think about what happens as you bring it down to your waist. The map rips away leaving what? Only you, standing in the hoop. Here’s the message that visual represents:

Your focus for change lies only within your hula hoop. We can get distracted by wanting to change the world.

Sometimes it’s easier to focus there than to look deeply at what’s going on in our own hearts and thoughts and words, isn’t it! Besides, changing the world is so impressive and impactful! Changing internally (which has been our detox focus so far) … well, that’s so likely to go unnoticed.

It’s true that we began our detox with those things not visible … the heart, worked through our thoughts and words, but now we conclude with what is obvious and visible to the world: our actions.

This channel of change represents the difference in the way the world approaches matters and how God approaches things. The world puts emphasis on what can be seen — our actions — and perhaps that’s one reason we see so much struggle and lack of success. God clearly states that change requires truth in the innermost part of our being (Psalm 51:6) … our heart. Because the Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

We tend to separate internal from external — heart from actions. But our heart is on display in our actions each day. This is why we began by saying holiness begins in the heart … and will do its work in our thinking, through our words, and will eventually be seen by the deeds and actions of our hands.

We can use Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:1, as a guide to our actions. He says as believers we are to “live a life worthy of the calling.”

There are two words here that can guide us in a very practical way.

1. Live can be translated to walk. “Walk” is most frequently used in the New Testament to refer to “daily conduct or actions!”

Secondly … the word worthy in Ephesians 4:1 Believers who walk in a manner worthy of their calling are those striving to live every day in a way that their actions are in unity with God’s Word.

Paul goes on to give us 5 ways we can align or balance our actions with God’s Word.

Through …

1. Acts of Humility: Not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. Humility places us in God’s hands and in obedience to His Word. Humility is confidence, not weakness;
2. Acts with Gentleness: Submitting to God’s dealings without rebellion, and to man’s ungodliness without retaliation; and
3. Acts with Patience: The patient person chooses not to complain or to be bitter; it’s not only waiting but what we are doing while we wait.We can align or balance our actions with God’s worth …
4. Acts with Forbearance in Love: Being tolerant with a positive love to all, especially those who irritate, disturb, or hurt us.Paul concludes in Ephesians 4:3, we can align or balance our actions with God’s Word with …
5. Acts That Unite: Remember that spiritual unity isn’t friends getting together and agreeing with one another; it is the same friends agreeing with God.

Until next time, let’s examine our actions. Are we living the life that is taking us to where we want to go? Where we were today is the result of choices we made yesterday. Here’s the good news … tomorrow we become what we choose to do today. Knowing that with God’s help, we detox to change that person inside our hula hoop surely will Strengthen Our Walk.

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