What can the dread of stepping on the scale teach us about resisting the transformative nature of God's Word?

Let's talk about that.

Welcome to the show.

I'm Daniel Dalp and this is for your Sunday morning drive.

The short podcast with the goal of providing some motivation, Dr.

and encouragement on your way to worship and helping you recenter your mind on spiritual things on hectic Sunday mornings.

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Let's go ahead and get the show on the road.

This is episode 85, Batteries in the scale.

Let's go to church.

Are we there yet?

The batteries in our bathroom scale have been dead for months and I honestly didn't think much of it at first.

Yes, you're right, it isn't a coincidence that this episode just happens to drop after one of the most food centric holidays on the calendar.

But anyway, you know, I thought maybe it'll be good for me not to stand on that scale every day.

And because, you know, some say it's not good to become obsessed with a number and so dead.

The batteries stayed and all was well until I began to notice my shirts getting a little more snug and my pants were getting a little tighter.

Not great, but still I didn't replace the batteries.

Why bother, right?

It's not urgent.

At least that was my thought.

I think the wake up call came when my wife began to drop what I'm going to call hints now.

Now I'm sure she'll deny the intent behind it, but she would say things like hey, the battery in the scale is dead or we really need to replace that battery.

And she said it with what?

Looking back on it, I'm going to call a suspiciously targeted level of persistence.

It was then that I realized the reason I haven't done it yet was because I'm a little bit scared to.

I've gone for so long without stepping that scale that I'm worried what I might see, even though I can already tell it's not going to be good.

Well, Long story short, I put it off long enough that Whitney replaced them herself, and with some trepidation, I stepped up and the scale told me what I already expected.

I wasn't where I wanted to be.

But I'm glad I know, because now I know what I need to do to get back on track.

And I guess it comes as no surprise at this point, But I see some spiritual application here, and I think it relates really well to what James James writes in James chapter 122 through 25.

He says, but be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.

For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror.

For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was.

But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there and does not become a forgetful listener, but one who lives it out.

He will be blessed in what he does.

Now if you found this passage as confusing as I have in the past, let me help break it down for you.

James is saying that someone who hears A biblical truth, understands it clearly and has the opportunity to change, but then walks away from an encounter with the truth unaltered is like someone that sees themselves clearly in a mirror.

Flaws, conditions, imperfections, the whole shebang, but then just walks away an immediate forgets what he saw.

In other words, James is telling us that in the same way for getting our own appearance is absurd and unnatural, so is hearing God's word without transformation.

Now let's sub out that mirror with my scale.

Get the picture?

Sometimes we, and yeah, I'm definitely including myself in that, are worried to look in that mirror or step on that scale because we don't want to be reminded of where we are and we dread the process of changing.

And I think many times as we do this with God's Word, we may not want to lay our lives alongside the scale of inspired truth, because it might hurt to see how far off we are from the example of Christ.

And maybe we're scared to, or even resistant to beginning the process of becoming doers of the Word and not just hearers.

But it must be done because just as seeing that number on the scale should push me to action, God's Word should motivate us in a transformative way.

Stepping on that scale and in front of that mirror that is God's Word is going to reveal truth in US.

And not all of that is going to be pleasant to see.

It's going to expose motives, reveal sin, show areas where we lack spiritually.

It may reflect truths about our hearts that are hard to bear.

And most importantly, it will illuminate where change is needed.

And once we see those things, don't walk away unmotivated or unchanged.

Put those batteries in the scale.

Look into the Word of God and don't willfully neglect changes that will please Him because spiritually speaking, I'm sure we can always find some fat to trim and thanks be to God that He shows us how.

Well, those are my thoughts for your Sunday morning drive.

Now it's time to hear yours.

Our discussion questions for this week are what fears keep us from honestly letting Scripture reveal spiritual areas that need change?

In what ways do we distract ourselves so we don't have to confront what God's Word might show us about our hearts?

And what are some areas in our lives where we can improve spiritually?

And what does God's Word tell us about how to make that happen?

Hey, thanks for listening.

I hope you have a great week and I'll see you Sunday.