Where you are is not where you will always be … at least not in God’s plan. God’s design for your life is to be ever changing and evolving, moving toward greater purposes on a trajectory you could never design alone. You were not created to arrive to this place and just stay here.



In this new year, you are being called forward. Not backward, and not stagnant. Forward. Onward. Next step. Understand that when you refuse to move and instead choose your familiar comfort zone, that is sin. When God is calling you to what is next but you cling to where you are now, that disobedience is sin. And when you wait and plan to do it “later”, that delayed obedience is also sin.



Sometimes we cling to where we are now because it’s our happy place. But quite honestly, that’s rare. You’re not really happy, you’re just familiar with this scene. Typically, there’s a void of happiness in the places we refuse to leave. It’s a familiar misery. A familiar chaos. A familiar battle. But honey, familiar is not the calling for your future.



Yesterday, we studied the story of the son who wanted his own way and ran off and ruined his life in Luke 15. There, in the pig pens, he finally came to his senses and decided to return to his father. Can you imagine how hard that first step must have been for him?



Although he was miserable in his mess, it was his mess. He was independent. He wasn’t answering to anyone. He was free to just be. The problem is, our pursuit of freedom often lands us in some world class wrecks and it’s hard to face the truth that no one did that to us but us. We made the mess. We screwed this up. This was my choice and I can’t just undo it.



So, the son had to make a choice: Respond to the pull to humbly return home and admit his failure, or stay right where he was and avoid the dreaded journey back. His decision made all the difference in the world.



Just as yours does here.



Let’s say you’ve wandered off and created a mess in your health. You’ve been doing all the wrong things for a while now and you don’t recognize or like the girl you see in the mirror. But even more, that girl you see in the mirror is suffering. She doesn’t feel good. So, what are you going to do here?



Returning to health will require a discipline you haven’t seen in a while. In your head, that’s a whole lot of days of denying yourself and that feels quite overwhelming. So, you could just stay here. You could remain in your un-health. You could make friends with your pain and downplay the problems this really causes.



Or, you could listen to that still small voice within that says, “Please do better for me.” Your body is the vessel that carries your soul, and honey, if you’re not taking care of the vessel, the soul suffers too. You could start the return to health with the very first step. You could go buy some healthy food (and throw away the junk). You could take yourself for a walk. You could trade your morning soda or sugary coffee for a better choice.



Your decision makes all the difference in the world.



Why am I talking about health in a devotional? Because honey, your health has been under attack for a long time. The enemy of your soul knows if he can keep you stuck in not feeling good and not loving yourself, then you aren’t much of a threat at all. But if you chose to leave this pig-pen living behind and started your journey back to what the Father has for you … ohhhhhh, the devil is shaking in his boots!



So, where’s your mess? Maybe it’s not your health,