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Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
(1 Peter 1:22 KJV)
When my children were small, there would be many times I would announce a family outing. "Come on kids, we are all going to Taylor's Falls (a beautiful river and mountainous hiking area in Minnesota) for a picnic and hiking. You have a half hour to get ready to go!"

With four children, there were always different ideas about what they wanted to do. "Oh dad, do we have to go there again, we just went last year?" "I don't want to go hiking, can't we just hang out around the house?" and so on. I really didn't pay a whole lot of attention to their whining. I knew they would grow out of it over time.

Continuing to remind them of having a good and honoring attitude was just a part of their ongoing speech they would hear from my wife Renee and me as we left on our journey.

Making It Fun Is Important
There were a few times in the process that I would be tempted to get a little upset with their attitude. After all, I had worked hard to plan and prepare for this special day.

Renee was great to remind me of our approach to situations like this. "Don't worry," she'd say. "I just tell them, this isn't a democracy or something that's up for a vote. I get this whether it's hauling them to a grocery store or wherever. I just try to make it fun and they are usually glad."

I agreed with her. I had seen exactly that happen time and time again. We'd usually have a great time and the kids would end up thrilled that we went. I'd usually ask them on the way home, "Well, are you guys glad we went today?" They'd all have their sheepish look and say, "Yes dad, it was really fun. You were right and we were wrong. Thank you for taking us - it was really fun."

In 1 Peter we read, "Obeying the truth (or what is good or right) through the Spirit, will purify your soul." Your soul is your mind and emotions. There are many times when our flesh and our soulish man is lazy and doesn't want to do anything. We might dislike discipline, or moderation, or doing things that we know are good for us.

Start thinking about some of those things you need to do and you can hear your soulish man cry out - "do I have to do that? I don't want to."

Quiet Down The Flesh…Then Floss!
Most mornings I will go through an exercise routine. Very seldom as I drag my body out of bed is it excited about jumping into this exercise routine. Yet I know I will be glad once I'm done. If there were 20 things I had to do, flossing my teeth would be the last on the list yet I know I should do it. If my flesh or soul tries to rise up a little, I just quiet them down.

When we do what we know we should with a good attitude, our souls are purified. We may have to force ourselves but over time, the benefit becomes clear and real and our soul whines less because it has learned of and experienced the value of "obeying the truth."

There are little "ways of doing things around the house" that Renee prefers that in the beginning of our marriage, I would resist her on. I didn't want to fold up the hand towel each time I used it. I wanted to shake my hands after I washed my hands whether I splashed the mirror or not.

Honor The Requests
I grew to realize that these were things that were important to her. Things that could bring peace to her and keep peace in our home. The end result of honoring all her little requests was having a much cleaner home.

I was actually very glad about that. There were many areas where I just needed to learn to "obey the truth" or honor the request of those in authority. In the process, my soulish man was purified or matured and it brought blessing to those I worked with.

Even as adults, there are still many things that we "have to do." We never really outgrow that kind of attitude challenge. We can whine or complain, or we can grow up. We can have purified souls and have a good attitude. To many, life can be one big pain in the rear end, but it doesn't have to be.

If we will let our minds and emotions be purified by trusting in the process and keeping a good attitude, the Lord can make every path and process that we go through blessed.

So, "come on kids....let's go to Taylor Falls!"

Copyright © www.FreshManna.org
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Author Biography

Tim Burt
Web site: Todays Fresh Manna
 
Timothy Burt is a pastor, author, and writer. He is best known as the author of Fresh Manna, a daily devotional and online Bible study.
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