Therefore with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. 1 Peter 1:13-16 HCSB
A bobo is temporary in most cases. It may leave a scar, but for the most part it is something that happens as a result of an injury and is not permanent. I spent a great deal of my life treating events as little bobos. I used prayer and church as Band-aids to give some relief until the healing process began. Once the healing process began, I figured I had things under control and no longer needed to be so diligent in my prayer life or my church attendance.
Boy, was I ever wrong. I learned the hard way that God didn’t want my half-hearted approach to Christianity. He wanted me to be serious about it. He wanted me to set my mind on it and to be active in loving Him with my whole heart. He wanted me to be obedient in good times as well as in bad. He wanted me to be holy. When I say He wanted me to be holy, what I mean is, that He wanted me to be set apart. He wanted others to be able to look at me and see something different living on the inside of me. He wanted others to look at me and see something different from this old messed up world. He wanted others to see the hope that was inside of me. But as soon as the bobo had healed I tossed the Band-Aid in the trash. I was grateful for the job it had done, but I no longer needed it.
So, my friend, I ask you are you treating your relationship with your Lord and Savior like a Band-Aid. Do you pull out your Bible and dust it off when trouble comes your way? Do you dress up and run to church on the Sundays when things aren’t going so well? If you do, that’s ok. That’s what God is there for. But He wants more. He wants you to seek Him wholeheartedly, not just in bad times, but in good times as well.
There’s an old saying that says, “It’s like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound.” This means that we are using a reactive strategy like just putting the fire out. But the problem is we often times don’t address the cause of the fire.
Maybe these little fires or bobos that you have been dealing with are God’s way of trying to get your attention. Have you ever thought about that? If that’s the case, there may come a time when just a Band-Aid will do you no good. If God can’t get your attention with the trials that are coming your way, He may need to bring about total destruction. I know all about this, because this is what he did for me. When I was giving Him my half-hearted commitment, He made me aware of my ignorance. He did this by destroying what was getting in my way of serving Him with my whole heart. There was no Band-Aid in the world big enough to fix it. Only God could. So, I committed my life to Him and put Him first and He has never let me down.
I ask you today, what will it take for you to commit your life to Christ? What will it take for you to take God seriously? My friend, I ask you these questions because none of us know when our life here on planet earth will be over. I want you to be ready. I am happy to say that I am prepared to meet my Lord and Savior whenever He is ready for me. I look forward to it. I want it to be the same way for you. If we give ourselves over to God, there will come a time when He will wipe all our tears away and there will be no more crying, no more grief and no more pain (Revelation 21:4). There will be no need for Band-Aids or hospital rooms.
But to get there, we must do what is required of us here. I beg of you today to stop using God as a 911 call or a bandage. Turn to Him and give it all over to Him before it’s too late. Then He will care for you and comfort you and mend your broken heart.
Have a great day!