"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you...Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:7, 8
When trying to learn a new piece on the piano, I practice diligently and am careful I play each note correctly. As my skills improve and memorization kicks in, I push my music aside and play by ear. After a while, the composition is added to my playlist and is no longer practiced as meticulously as before. Sometimes I notice myself getting lazy with my preformance. When I play the song and hear a wrong note, occasionally I will try playing the piece again until I hit the right key (rarely pulling out the music to see what the correct note is), but sometimes I will skip over it like nothing happened; when doing so, I allow myself to accept the error and the next time I play I tend to make the same mistake. As I practice the piece from time-to-time that missed note will still be there but as time progesses, I recognize the blunder as part of the music.
As with practicing, our spiritual life is the same way. When God convicts us of a particular sin in our life that we need to master, we tend to work hard to overcome it and resist the temptation to do wicked. God pricks our heart so often that we then have a desire to change in order to rid ourselves of that transgression. Sometimes, however, we slip; we fall into that old way. When we realize it, we go to God for help and forgiveness, but occasionally we forget about it. In doing so, we make it easier to transgress the next time over. From there it is a downward spiral unless we straighten ourselves from the get-go.
It is my solemn prayer that you and I will not harden our hearts to our slips. When we recognize we did something incredibly wrong in the eyes of the Lord, we need to completely surrender self and earnestly ask God to forgive us and to help us conquer that which we keep falling into. Just like I know I need to fix my blunders on the piano, I also know I need to watch my gaffe in my life.
So true! Thank you Bailey! I really like your illustration! and I can fully relate!
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