Joint Maintenance

By Robin J. Steinweg –

Joint Maintenance—TV, magazines, newspapers, health journals—everywhere I look I see supplements for joint maintenance. Well, I’m here to tell you I tried them and they don’t work; I look around this joint and it’s as much a mess as ever!

If the joint to which I refer is my soul, then the statement above isn’t precisely true. It’s not in the mess it was before Jesus saved me. In my early twenties I opened my heart’s door to Him, and He came in and swept the place clean as a whistle. White spankin’ new. He powered away my sin-stain as far as the East is from the West. The Bible word for it is justification (“just as if” I’d never sinned).

The tricky part is ongoing: maintenance. To keep up the purity Christ initiated in me isn’t possible on my own. It would be like trying to pound a nail into a board with a wet noodle. The Bible word for it is sanctification (being molded into Christ-likeness), and it requires God working in me with my cooperation.

• His Spirit convicts me of wrongdoing. I confess it to Him and ask Him to change me.
• I read His Word, the Bible. He interprets and explains it to me.
• I pray (not just asking for things, but listening to Him). He responds to me and communicates with me.
• I spend time with other growing, maturing Christians. He loves on me and speaks to me through them.
• I praise Him (because He is worthy). He inhabits my praises.
• I obey Him. He makes Himself real to me.

So if I want the joint to stay clean, I have to maintain it. But I need supernatural help. A joint venture or joint ownership requires working together.

Joint Maintenance!

AUTHOR QUOTE: The high-potency formula for the maintenance of this joint is God at work in me + me yielding to God’s work in me.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:20, 21 NIV).

Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!