Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.” – Exodus 24:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 12, 2012): Exodus 24

One of the things that I find that I do during a break in my life (vacations or retreats) is to decide what changes I need to make in the way that I live life. When everything pauses, even for a short time, it seems to be just a great time to evaluate exactly what it is that you are doing. And it is a time when I can reorganize the way that I go about doing things.

And so I often come up with great plans – I can make the decisions about the things that I need to change in my routine, but my problem is always the follow through. I can tell myself (and others) that I need to make a change. But saying that I will change is different from actually living out the changes that I have committed to make. It is not that I am lazy or evil, but habit has a hold on me that is greater than I sometimes realize. I want to change in the pauses of my life, but when the action restarts I find that there is a strong tendency to want to just go back to doing things the way I have always done them. Breaking the force of habit takes more than just making the plans to do things differently. I have to continually make the effort to re-evaluate what it is that I am doing, I have to keep short lists with myself (or quick evaluations of my life), continually reminding myself of the changes that I need to make.

As Moses receives the law from God, Moses speaks the law to the nation of Israel. And Israel’s response was that they would do whatever it was that the law demanded. But obedience is an action, not words to be spoken. It was going to take more than just a verbal commitment to make the change. And again, it is not because Israel was lazy or evil, but the force of habit gained from living life the way that they had been forced to live it was going to be hard to overcome. A commitment was necessary, not only to the law but to keeping short lists as they pursued their new commitment to life.

It is just the nature of trying to make serious change in our lives. Words are just not enough. Serious change requires serious commitment and serious discipline. It also takes the commitment to the keeping of short lists – the commitment to frequent evaluations of our lives and the ability to be honest with ourselves and recognize the times when we fall short. And, successful change requires the willingness to pick ourselves up one more time and try again.

      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 25