“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1 NIV)

I’m a messy person by nature. I don’t like to live in messy environments, but I make a lot of messes. My approach to cleaning is the path of least resistance. If there’s clutter on my desk, I pitch it into a drawer. Out of sight, out of mind. I tell myself that I’ll get to it later. I allow messes to build up—in certain areas of the house, in my car—until I can’t take it any longer. Then I go into attack mode. I clean until everything is back in order. And I feel proud of myself. And then I start making my little messes again.

My wife is my polar opposite. She’s a very neat and tidy person. She is constantly cleaning. When she makes a meal, she starts cleaning the dishes before the meal is done. She is always straightening and organizing.

So we see two approaches to straightening up and cleaning. You can take the Greg approach, which is never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. Or you can take the Cathe approach, which is deal with it today and don’t let messes get worse.

We can apply those same approaches to our spiritual lives. Sometimes we allow little problems to develop. Maybe it’s a flirtation with sin. Or a spiritual mess we get ourselves into. Or a compromise we allow. One thing leads to another, and the problem begins to build and build. Suddenly, what started out as a small issue becomes a big problem. Maybe a fascination becomes a habit that turns into a full-blown addiction.

The question is, are we going to let the mess build and build until it starts to overwhelm us before we start to clean it up? Or are we going to attend to each mess immediately and then frequently thereafter, as needed?

You probably won’t be surprised to discover which approach the apostle Paul favored. Look at his words in 2 Corinthians 7:1: “Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (NIV).

That’s a call to immediate action. Paul understood the dangers of letting spiritual messes get bigger.

Maybe you made a commitment to Christ five, ten, or twenty years ago. You cleaned out things in your life, such as bad habits and misplaced priorities that displeased God. You dealt with your personal messes in your pursuit of becoming a hardcore Christian.

Since then, maybe you’ve relaxed your vigilant life-cleaning. You’ve let a few messes start to accumulate. You can’t quite work up the motivation to tackle them.

This is your call to action. It starts with a simple prayer: “Lord, I need another cleaning. I’ve let things go, and I need your help.”

And then? “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 NIV).

Reflection question: What areas of your life need to be cleaned?

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“Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.” (1 Timothy 4:16 NLT)

Have you ever fallen unexpectedly? It happened to me several years ago. I was riding my bike on my way to meet my wife at a restaurant for breakfast. Unbeknownst to me, someone had loosened the levers that held the front tire on my bike. As I was crossing a street and approaching the curb, I pulled up on the handlebars. The handlebars and wheel forks pulled up with me. The wheel did not. I ran into the curb, went over the front of the bike, and hit the ground face-first. I didn’t know it was coming, so I didn’t have time to brace myself for the fall. I blacked out for a few seconds. When I came to, some fellow was standing over me. He asked, “Are you okay?” I said I was fine. I wasn’t fine. I was bloodied and bruised. It’s hard to be fine after a fall you didn’t see coming.

It’s tempting to say that the same thing applies to unexpected spiritual falls. But I suggest to you that when people fall away from the Lord—when they crash and burn, spiritually speaking—there are always steps leading up to the event. Maybe the people involved weren’t fully aware of the steps, but that doesn’t change the fact that those steps were taking place. We need to realize that nobody falls away overnight or immediately. There’s always a process that unfolds over a period of time.

The apostle Paul urged his protégé Timothy not to allow such a process to get started in his life. His words apply to every believer. “Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:16 NLT).

We must talk the talk and walk the walk. Our words and actions should bring glory to God. People should be able to see Jesus’ life-changing impact in us. We do that by staying true to what is right—that is, studying, understanding, and applying God’s Word.

Sometimes we get careless in our approach to Scripture. We listen to people who have ulterior motives in their interpretation of the Bible. We try to stretch God’s Word to fit our political or social agendas.

Keep in mind, though, that the serpent’s temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden began with four seemingly harmless words: “Did God really say . . . ?” (Genesis 3:1 NLT). If your enemy can put distance between you and God’s Word, or if he can cause you to doubt or twist what Scripture is really saying, he can make you vulnerable to attack. He can prime you for a fall.

You can maintain your spiritual balance by holding fast to God’s Word. If you support yourself with His truths, you can walk with confidence.

Reflection question: In what areas do you need to watch your step, spiritually speaking?

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“As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.” (2 Timothy 4:6 NLT)

When you take a trip, you have to leave at a certain time. If your flight departs at 8 o’clock, you have to account for traffic, parking, getting through security, and finding your gate. You need to allow time for all of them. You have to prepare for your departure if you want to arrive at your destination as planned. Of course, how you approach your departure will depend on how you feel about your destination.

I remember taking a trip to North Carolina that I wasn’t looking forward to. The weather there was hot and very humid. And I had a three-hour layover in Chicago. It’s safe to say that I wasn’t eagerly anticipating the trip. The very next week, however, I was scheduled to fly to Hawaii. And I was eagerly anticipating that trip. It all comes down to destination for me. If I’m going to a place I don’t want to go to, I dread the trip. But if I’m going to a place I do want to go, I look forward to the trip. I don’t mind the travel, even if I’m sitting in coach with a person in front of me fully reclined. It’s okay. The destination makes everything else worth the journey.

In 2 Timothy 4:6, the apostle Paul was anticipating a different kind of departure. “As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near” (NLT).

Paul had lived a remarkably dangerous life. He offered a glimpse of it in 2 Corinthians 11:24–27:

Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. (NLT)

Yet, through it all, there’s no indication in Scripture that Paul ever thought the time of his death was near. Until 2 Timothy 4:6.

There’s no trace of sadness or regret in his announcement—only victory. In the next verse, he declared, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful” (NLT).

More importantly, Paul was excited about his destination. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord” (NLT).

Are you excited about your ultimate destination? Will you leave this life with a sense of accomplishment and victory? If you trust in Christ as Savior and Lord, you can approach death with the confidence, assurance, and excitement that Paul had.

Reflection question: What is your attitude toward death?

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“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7–8 NLT)

While reading the newspaper one morning, Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and engineer, was shocked to find his name listed in the obituary column. It was a mistake, of course, but there it was. Nobel was dismayed to see that he was remembered primarily as the man who invented dynamite. At that point in history, dynamite was being used to great and devastating effect in warfare. Nobel was distressed to think that he would be known for creating an instrument of death and destruction.

He was so distressed, in fact, that he decided to change the course of his life as a result of reading this mistaken obituary. He decided to commit himself to world peace. He established the Nobel Peace Prize. Today, most people who know the name Alfred Nobel associate him with that prize. Many know nothing about his invention of dynamite. That’s because Alfred Nobel had the chance to change the course of his life.

What if you had the unsettling opportunity to read your own obituary? What do you think you’d be remembered for? What if you could write your own obituary? What would you like to be remembered for? It’s not too late to change the course of your life if you want to.

In 2 Timothy 4:7–8, the apostle Paul offers an obituary of sorts for himself. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing” (NLT).

Keep in mind that Paul transformed the world that he lived in. He was used mightily by God to establish churches throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. He left countless converts in his wake. He mentored young Christian leaders. He fearlessly proclaimed the gospel to philosophers, Pharisees, rulers, soldiers, sorcerers, slaves, and possibly even Caesar himself.

In the end, though, he saw himself as a wrestler, someone who fought spiritual battles with all his might; a runner, someone who finished the race despite pain and exhaustion; and a soldier, someone who guarded the truth of the gospel with his life.

If your life were to end today, would you be able to say that you’ve fought the good fight, finished the race, and guarded the faith in the way that you live? If so, then Paul’s reward—“the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return” (NLT)—will be yours as well.

Reflection question: What would you like your obituary to read?

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“Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.” (1 Timothy 1:19 NLT)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was a bit of a practical joker. One day, he jotted notes to twelve of his friends and sent them off with no name signed to them. On the notes he wrote these words: “Flee at once—all is discovered.” Within twenty-four hours, all twelve of the people who received the notes had left the country. Doyle got a big laugh out of showing what happens when people have guilty consciences.

Your conscience may be the most overlooked part of you. If you did a quick online search, you’d find hundreds of articles and tips for keeping your heart healthy. Or improving your memory. Or protecting your skin. Or taking care of other important parts of your body. But what about your conscience?

The apostle Paul emphasized its importance when he gave this advice to Timothy for choosing deacons: “They must be committed to the mystery of the faith now revealed and must live with a clear conscience” (1 Timothy 3:9 NLT).

Everyone has a conscience. In Romans 2:14–15, Paul said, “Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right” (NLT).

Not everyone appreciates their conscience. Some people treat it like a nagging companion who always starts complaining just when things begin to get fun. They learn to ignore or disable it. And that’s a huge mistake. Paul warned in 1 Timothy 4:2 about people whose “consciences are dead” (NLT).

Your conscience is actually one of the most valuable gifts God has given you. You don’t have to guess at what’s right or wrong. You can sense it, deep in your heart, thanks to your God-given conscience.

Let’s look at one more warning from Paul to Timothy: “Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked” (1 Timothy 1:19 NLT).

Many believers spend a lot of time trying to discover God’s will for their lives. But in most cases, it’s not a one-time reveal. It’s the dozens of daily decisions we make that bring us closer to Him. Every day we’re given choices to do right or wrong. Every time we choose to do right, to obey God—using our conscience—we grow closer to Him. The closer we are to Him, the better we can see the doors He opens and closes. The closer we are to Him, the better we can sense His leading in key situations. The closer we are to Him, the better we can recognize His hand in the events around us.

If you want to discover God’s will for your life, stay close to Him and keep your conscience clear.

Reflection question: What can you do to keep your conscience performing at a high level?

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“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (Galatians 5:22–23 NLT)

Many people have a very pessimistic, cynical outlook on life. Screenwriter John Patrick Shanley wrote this for a character played by actor Nicolas Cage: “We are here to ruin ourselves and break our hearts and love the wrong people and die.” Benjamin Disraeli, the former prime minister of England, came to this conclusion: “Youth is a blunder; manhood a struggle; old age a regret.” Actor George Clooney said, “I don’t believe in happy endings, but I do believe in happy travels, because ultimately, you die at a very young age, or you live long enough to watch your friends die. It is a mean thing, life.”

I’m here to tell you that there’s more to our existence in this world than this. Life need not be a series of inevitable bad choices. It need not be a progression of blunder, struggle, and regret. And it doesn’t need to be a mean thing.

Jesus said, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10 NLT). Often, when we think about the life that Jesus offers, we think of the next one—how His death on the cross and resurrection makes eternal life possible for those who believe in Him. But as He makes clear in John 10, He transforms our lives in this world as well.

Jesus frees us from our slavery to sin and gives us a taste of true freedom. He allows us to experience life as God intends. He makes it possible for us to find real purpose and experience genuine fulfillment in this life.

The apostle Paul wrote, “And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago” (Ephesians 1:13 NLT). The Holy Spirit guides us down the paths God would have us go. If we follow His lead, our lives will be transformed.

In Galatians 5:22–23, Paul shows us what that transformation involves: “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (NLT). If you were to ask one hundred people what they need most in their lives right now, how many of them would mention one or more of the items on this list? Keep in mind, too, that these fruits grow in all conditions of life. Even without romance, you can grow in love. Even in trying times, you can find joy.

One of the devil’s most effective strategies is to convince people that the life Jesus offers is somehow restrictive, boring, or unfulfilling. He tries to distract us with empty, shallow, selfish, and ultimately destructive pursuits. He warps our perspective so that we can’t tell what’s truly meaningful and satisfying in life.

Don’t fall for his lies. Follow Christ. Discover how rich and satisfying your life can be.

Reflection question: How would you summarize your philosophy of life?

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“No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.” (Ephesians 5:29 NLT)

In yesterday’s devotion, we looked at the problems that arise when you prioritize yourself in marriage. Today we’re going to expand the picture and look at the problems that arise when you prioritize yourself as a believer.

So often today we hear about the importance of self-image, self-love, self-worth, and self-esteem. We even hear it proclaimed from our pulpits: “Doesn’t Jesus say in Mark 12:31, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’? First, you must love yourself before you can love your neighbor.” Wrong.

Jesus was not teaching you to first love yourself and then love your neighbor. Rather, He was teaching that you already love yourself, so now love your neighbor. Look again at the apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:29: “No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church” (NLT). We already have self-love. Now we need to love others in the same way.

You’ll hear people say things like, “I’m trying to find myself,” to explain their inward gaze. Jesus said, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39 NIV). In other words, if you want to find out what your life was really intended for, deny yourself. You’ve heard the expression, “Finders, keepers; losers, weepers.” We could take what Jesus is saying and call it “losers, keepers.” The people who lose their lives, in reality, keep them.

Think of it in computer terms. Self-regard, self-image, self-love, self-worth, and self-esteem take up enormous storage space in our lives. They leave little capacity to operate efficiently in other important areas, especially when it comes to serving or having empathy for others.

Isaiah 1:17 says, “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows” (NLT). But how can you do those things if your focus is on yourself?

You’ll find no wavering in Paul’s words in Philippians 3:7–9: “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him” (NLT). He knew for certain that he had made the right decision in losing his life for Christ’s sake.

People who “lose” their lives as Jesus instructed discover an amazing truth. God loves us far more than we can ever love ourselves. He knows far more than we do about what will bring us lasting fulfillment and joy. So when we sacrifice our self-interest for His sake, we gain far more than we lose.

Reflection Question: What’s been your experience in losing and finding your life in your walk with Christ?

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“So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” (Ephesians 5:33 NLT)

Selfishness is the secret to an unhappy marriage. Too often two people enter into marriage saying, “I want my way.” The husband says, “You do what I say.” And the wife says, “I want it my way.” Because of selfishness, couples riddle their marriage with friction. It all comes down to self.

Genesis 2:24 says, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one” (NLT). But parents aren’t the only things marriage partners must leave behind. There’s also the priority of self, the tendency to place your needs and wants above everything else. If two people are “looking out for number one,” they’re going to have a hard time being “united into one.”

Today, there are marriages dissolving because spouses are trying to “find themselves.” Listen, husbands and wives! If you want to find yourself, you need to lose yourself. Remember what Jesus said, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39 NIV).

If you want to find yourself and have a biblical marriage, learn the secret. Stop thinking about yourself and approach your marriage saying, “I want to love, please, and help my mate. I want to care about my spouse more than I care about myself.” This is biblical. Before Paul ever says in Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord” (NIV), and before he ever says in verse 25, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (NIV), he says in verse 21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (NIV). That word submit means “to place or arrange under.” The idea is a voluntary submission. Paul is saying to voluntarily place your needs under the needs of your spouse. Operate with the mindset that your spouse comes first.

This principle of selfless service is so important that God makes it the model for all our interactions. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:3–4, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too” (NLT). Following these guidelines in our daily encounters is a powerful testimony of our Christian faith. Following them in our marriage is a powerful expression of love and commitment.

If you prioritize the needs of your spouse and work hard to meet those needs, you’ll find that something amazing happens. You’ll find that your own needs get met in time, because you’ll be in God’s order, and your spouse will be, too. And God will bless your union in ways you can’t imagine.

Reflection Question: What does submitting to one another look like in your marriage—or in a marriage that you consider to be healthy?

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