“Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also ... for if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that ... ” 2 Corinthians 8:11-12
How-to Books and Fad Diets
What is the latest book you have read on “child rearing” or “being a good wife”? Did those books make you want to change? Did you change? Does it sound like you swallowed a tape recorder as you repeat the book’s precepts to yourself and others? Permanent and profound change does not usually come from reading a how-to book. How-to books are like fad diets. On the surface, they make sense, and there are tidbits and hints to appreciate in each, but once the novelty has worn off, there is the tendency to return to old habits. Profound change comes by soul-searching in the presence of God combined with a committed spirit to do the will of God as found in His Word.
Searching the soul without the commitment to obedience afterwards will lead either to despair over one’s shortcomings or else to dishonesty with oneself that leaves us uneasy in the presence of God. It is true that we cannot depend upon ourselves to perform obedience. But the “magnet” of faith which continually returns to the committed pathway will help us, and we are not without help from above. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever: forsake not the works of Thine own hands” (Psa. 138:88The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. (Psalm 138:8)).