It’s the last week of the year, and I am thinking about time. Please tell me that I am not the only one who thinks about a year nearly gone with certain feelings of melancholy. All that time…365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,536,000 seconds…where did it all go? Why are there so many things I didn’t get done that I really wanted to do? How can I do better in the year ahead…especially when I haven’t managed to figure out this dilemma before in a way that makes any practical difference?

Let’s take a look at this problem in just one small area that I’ve struggled with…this blog. I’ll talk it over right here with you as my witnesses…and any input you want to add online or in person will be most welcome. Obviously, I need some help…

I could make a thousand and one excuses as to why I have written nothing for “Over Tea” in the last year but those excuses would all sound as lame as they really are. In reality, I struggle with why it has been so hard to keep up with this task. I love to write and I often think of things I want to share, but there’s this hesitation…this little voice that says, “Wait until you have more time; you’re too tired to write well; you need to develop that thought more; you don’t want to write something that isn’t just perfect.”

Just perfect. Who has ever walked this planet, aside from Jesus Himself, who is perfect? Nobody…absolutely nobody…no one ever has, and no one ever will. So why does that thought even pop up? Where does it come from? And why am I prone to listen to it along with all these other excuses? What is really going on here? Whose voice am I listening to?

I have a sneaking suspicion that my thoughts are common to many of us, in one area or another, and that they are planted there by the enemy of our souls. They are subtle thoughts with just enough truth to make them plausible. In reality, lots of lies have a thread of truth running through them…but they are still lies. Accepting a lie just because there’s a thread of truth in it will still cause disappointment and grief. It’s like giving a wool neck scarf someone who is allergic to wool, and telling them not to worry, there are some cotton fibers mixed in…it’s okay. But it’s not. If that neck scarf is accepted and used, eventually the recipient of that scarf is going to have itchy skin, or their eyes are going to be watering, or something worse, and they will see that scarf for what it is…a source of misery. And so it is with these subtle lies that seem to sabotage my good intentions and the real desires of my heart.

The really insidious part of this is that the enemy knows my weaknesses and he has no problem whatsoever exploiting them. He will tell me that I have worked a full day already and I don’t have the energy to write (true), but the reality is that even though I am tired, writing is a task that generally gives me energy because I love it, even if it takes an initial push to get the process going. The enemy tells me that my ideas aren’t developed

nobody…no one ever has, and no one ever will. So why does that thought even pop up? Where does it come from? And why am I prone to listen to it along with all these other excuses? What is really going on here? Whose voice am I listening to?

I have a sneaking suspicion that my thoughts are common to many of us, in one area or another, and that they are planted there by the enemy of our souls. They are subtle thoughts with just enough truth to make them plausible. In reality, lots of lies have a thread of truth running through them…but they are still lies. Accepting a lie just because there’s a thread of truth in it will still cause disappointment and grief. It’s like giving a wool neck scarf someone who is allergic to wool, and telling them not to worry, there are some cotton fibers mixed in…it’s okay. But it’s not. If that neck scarf is accepted and used, eventually the recipient of that scarf is going to have itchy skin, or their eyes are going to be watering, or something worse, and they will see that scarf for what it is…a source of misery. And so it is with these subtle lies that seem to sabotage my good intentions and the real desires of my heart.

The really insidious part of this is that the enemy knows my weaknesses and he has no problem whatsoever exploiting them. He will tell me that I have worked a full day already and I don’t have the energy to write (true), but the reality is that even though I am tired, writing is a task that generally gives me energy because I love it, even if it takes an initial push to get the process going. The enemy tells me that my ideas aren’t developed enough (maybe), but the reality is that most of my ideas really develop as I write, not before I begin. The enemy tells me that I don’t have time (so it seems), but then I proceed to waste what time I do have lingering over a newspaper or some other thing that is worthless in the end. One of the enemy’s favorite “arrows” is fear. What if I write something that isn’t the best? What if someone reads what I write and they aren’t moved by it somehow? What if someone reads what I write and they don’t find it meaningful, witty, or worthy? What am I even thinking things like this for? Whatever I write for this blog is not supposed to be for my benefit anyway…it’s not about me!!! My job is to write whatever God lays on my heart…it’s His job to use it as He pleases. The truth is, my fears are unfounded, because I do not have to be perfect in order for God to use me; I just have to be faithful. Isn’t it stunning that Satan can twist my pride into the things that God has given me to do, so that I am afraid to do them because of how I might look in the end? Ouch.

So, what do I do in the year ahead to overcome these struggles? The one thing I can think of is to focus on the truth. Here are just a few truths from the Bible that I think I need to memorize, or post in places where I will be reminded…

• Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Very seldom do I need this verse for “big” things, but rather, I need it for the daily things that I struggle to be consistent in.)
• 2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear), but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. (If I can identify those times when fear creeps in, I can identify the enemy at work…because the truth is that fear does not come from God; then I can remember what God does give…power, love and the self-discipline I so desperately need in those times.)
• 2 Corinthians 12:8b – “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (I really need to remember this one when I am tired after a busy day or week at work.)
• 2 Thessalonians 3:3 – “But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” (Jesus is ALWAYS there for me and with me.)
• 2 Peter 1:3a – “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” (God help me to remember that “everything” means everything!)

I know that making New Year’s resolutions can be a dicey practice…think of all the exercise equipment now used as drying racks for clothes, stacks of empty journals that taunt the would-be writer, and books on de-cluttering your space that have never been read and consequently add to the clutter in your space…and you get my point. But who doesn’t want a life that is lived in more truth next year than they lived in this year? We don’t have to purchase anything, and no matter how many times we fail, we can start again…whether it’s January, June, September…or whenever. We can have a better life in 2016 if we apply truth in even a few places and circumstances…and if we do it enough, it might just become one of those habits that revolutionizes our lives. Pick one area in your life…just one…find some verses that apply to fighting the lies you’ve been stumbling on, and let’s see what really believing the truths of God can do. And one more thing, let’s pray for each other…that we might live firmly wrapped in truth, and not in a scarf of lies with a few threads of truth running through it.

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