The last two days I have really been reminded about how giving in to small temptations and conceding in small areas will ultimately make you lose the war. Sunday we were studying Nehemiah 13 and it is shocking how far the nation of Israel was able to fall away from God in such a short amount of time. Over a short span of years they went from respecting the Sabbath so much that they wouldn’t buy anything on it to working on the Sabbath themselves. They went from cleansing themselves of foreign (ungodly) influences in the beginning of the chapter to embracing those influences near the end of the chapter. The shift is remarkable.

As I was teaching this I was reminded and convicted about how we need to guard what we value and doggedly fight against anyone or anything that tries to get us to make small concessions. In the church planting world this is called being mean about the vision, where you are willing to fight and defend the vision that God has given you. Sometimes that means having difficult conversations, sometimes that means stepping on people’s toes. But, guarding the vision that you value so dearly is worth paying those small prices so that later it will yield the great dividends that God has in store.

If you think about it, we need to hold everything we really value in this way. We need to doggedly guard our families by guarding our time, our attitude, and even our outside relationships with friends. We need to guard our faith and relationship with Jesus by being in His word and spending time with him. We need to guard our health and not make concessions for every desert that makes goo goo eyes at us.

I am convinced that each and every one of us must know what we hold most dear and fight for it daily, making sure that we give nothing away, and that we don’t lose a single moment to wasted time and opportunity.

Just a thought… any thoughts from you?