Thought for Friday, April 5th

April 5, 2013

Spiritual O.C.D.

  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Colossians 3:15-17

Probably most, if not all of us, have known an obsessive compulsive person during the course of our life.  And probably many more of us, if we are willing to be honest with ourselves, would have to admit that to some degree we have tendencies toward some level of obsessive compulsiveness about certain things within our own lives.

But our subject matter today is not those physical tendencies towards O.C.D. that might or might not be present in our natural behavior patterns: but rather the idea of Spiritual O.C.D. and whether it is, or could be a good or bad thing in our spiritual lives.

Obviously if we focus and obsess over such things as gossip, lust, pride and self then the potential for bad results and displeasing behaviors that would not honor God are probably going to manifest themselves.

However if we were to become obsessively compulsive about such things as our prayer life: our study of God’s word; our commitment to service and spiritual growth and our efforts at showing compassion and love; then there could be the prospect of some real positive, life affirming and God honoring behaviors that would begin to be realized in our daily walk.

Being obsessive or compulsive does not have to always carry with it a negative connotation and as Christians if we can focus our attention and energies towards those things that will enable us to grow closer to God then it can only prove to be a win/win, all the way around.

Today’s Prayer

Father, more often than not I am probably more on the remiss side of those things that would draw me closer to you, so help me be a little more obsessive and compulsive about the spiritual things in my life that will truly make a difference of a positive nature.