Get Yourself Together

We’ve heard it from our parents, grandparents, teachers: the admonishing to gather together your faculties and act like you have sense. All too often we’re caught in a conflict from without or within and the result can be an imbalance of emotions, thoughts, and actions and we need simply to ‘get ourselves together.’ How do we ‘get ourselves together?’ Much like a car’s check engine light, we have to recognize it, address it, and fix it.

Recognize it - periodically you and I are alerted to our heart’s condition by our carnal response to things in and around us, but sometimes like that check engine light, we ignore it, blame it on others, or even procrastinate about recognizing the warning. 2 Corinthians 13:5  says to, “Examine ourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?”  On occasion we let our guard down and we forget, Christ IS in me and I should not be responding in this way. “O wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24)  Let me get myself together.

Address it- the beauty of acknowledging I am out of sorts is that I can commune with the Father about it. Jesus, I am out of sorts and something is wrong. 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Back to the check engine light analogy, only the Great Mechanic/Physician can provide the help we need to get ourselves together. If we ignore addressing the matter it will, more often than not, get worse. So “come boldly to the throne of grace” and just ask, “Lord, help me get myself together?” So we may, “obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

Fix it – you look around for a tool to address this issue and find there is only One. But maybe there is another way, a short cut? A work-around? My ingenuity has worked before. My creativity has helped in times past. K-nope! Humility through godly self-assessment must be addressed before any problem is fixed. We’ve been here before with our seasonal humility (humble today-not so humble tomorrow), but we forgot and now we must revisit its’ training ground, which may involve the TEACHER of all teachers, chastening. “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful;" (PAUSE: have you ever gotten a beating as a child for some bad thing you did? Painful-It changed your whole life! You said you'll NEVER do that thing again-Halleljuah for an old school beating!) "nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11. God’s hand of chastening is the ‘Fix’ and we must be trained by His perfect, targeted chastening to produce the ‘peaceable fruit of righteousness’. Because “whom the Father loves, He chastens!” (Hebrews 12:6) Thank You Lord for loving and chastening me, for Your goodness leads me to repentance (Romans 2:4) and to get myself together! May we all “humble ourselves under the mighty Hand of God, (1 Peter 5:6)” stay ahead of that check engine light, “that He may exalt us in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6)

PRAYER: Father in heaven, the manner of love You have for us is remarkable. Thank You for corrective measures You use for Your children. You, oh Lord, are a gracious God, exercising loving kindness, tender mercies and when Your hand of chastening comes upon us, may we look up and embrace Your purpose for it and Your plans for us. In Jesus’  name I pray, Amen.  
By Sis. Paula Smith