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Some of you are old enough to remember the Fram oil filter commercial that showed an auto mechanic by a broken-down engine and saying, “You can pay me now or pay me later.”

The message was clear: Invest in preventative maintenance before big problems start and the cost of ownership will be much less than if engine care is ignored.

The commercial’s message resonated with so many people because the “pay me now or pay me later” principle applies in so many areas of life.

One who doesn’t exercise and make eating control choices earlier in life will pay a hefty price later in diminished health and constricted activity.

One who doesn’t grasp the value of delayed gratification will struggle miserably with retirement finances.

The list could go on, of course, but you get the point.

And so it is with the arena of faith.

The warning below to the wandering Hebrews, given just before they entered the Promised Land, was in my devotional reading today:

“‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.” (Numbers 33:55-56)

If we don’t strive early in our Christian life to become more like Jesus in thought and action, we’ll pay a very steep price later in terms of recurring crisis moments when we feel we’re stumbling and bumbling around in the fleshly fog of opinions and speculations.

Listen, pursuing personal sanctification through prayer, study, mutual encouragement and repentance as needed is the much better path.

We either pay the price of personal humility and sacrifice (of time, bad habits, unhealthy relationships) early in our Christian walk — even if it means putting up with some hassles — or we’re going to face much bigger problems that will require far more time to resolve, will permeate far more aspects of our lives and will disrupt all sorts of relationships that we value.

You’ve seen this happen, as have I.

It’s not pretty.

What’s worse, it didn’t have to happen.

Let’s do our best to “drive out the inhabitants of the land” when it comes to fleshly habits and attitudes. Whatever difficulty and disappointment we encounter on the journey to becoming more like Jesus is NOTHING compared to the difficulty and disappointment waiting for those who aren’t living for Jesus when He returns or when their lives here end.

As always, I love you
Martin

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