Maintenance. It’s something we’re all involved with whether we like it or not.  As much as some of us (no names or genders will be alluded to here !) would love to just put gas in our vehicles and keep driving, they need regular checkups, tune-ups and repairs.  Today I had some guys come to work on the house to keep it in good repair.  But whether it’s your home, your car, or your body, the nature of things now is they need constant upkeep.   Spiritually, this is even more true for we still have a sin nature that longs to take us down a wrong path and so we thankfully have the Lord to help us maintain and even improve spiritually.  When Paul wrote Second Corinthians he touched on this saying, “. . .but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” (4:16).

One of more encouraging things to console senior citizens with is just this, that even though they suffer debilitating things in their bodies they can go the other way in their soul !  Not to mention that one day this deteriorating body will no longer need the maintenance it requires now but will give way to a new and glorious body !!   But let me challenge you as the new week starts, maintain and upgrade your Christian life.  Be in the Word, don’t neglect to pray, set a priority to come to your church’s services this week, and engage in good Christian fellowship with other believers, avoid music that will bring you down and instead that which promotes spiritual worship.  This will not only maintain your soul, it will improve it too.

So Paul stated though the body ages, the spirit can actually improve and experience rejuvenation !  And note he wrote this is able to occur each day as we take the initiative to renew it.  One implication also is that it’s a slow process but one that can be steady as we commit ourselves to it. Psychologists as not always wrong and one thing they are correct about is that if you do something for a period of twenty one days it is much easier to establish a habit for it “rewires” you brain, as studies have shown.  So if you struggle with reading your Bible, for instance, on a daily basis, why not commit to the next three weeks that you will read it carefully and watch the renewing, renew !    Finally, what a joy knowing that we can actually have a role to play in maintaining and improving spiritually as we give ourself to God each day and walk with Him !!  For something good is happening as we are, we are becoming more like Him !!!!!!