Crucial Moments
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. (James 1:2-3)
There are two kinds of moments in our lives, casual moments and crucial moments. Casual moments are the usual day to day occurrences that happen in our lives that do not require too much engagement. Most of the time we handle them quite well through habits that we develop over time. If our habits are right, they should normally work during casual moments. In the same way, we develop our habits during casual moments that would enable us to handle crucial moments. Crucial moments are those moments that are very important, where our engagement would matter a lot. The Bible calls them “trials.” It’s the catch-all word for anything that can result in either success or failure. We can also include the words “tests,” “thorns,” “temptations,” “tribulations,” and “truth encounters.” These are the crucial moments of our lives. If we have the spiritual power to engage our whole being during such moments, we will be able to engage well. If not, we will fail. So the key to living a fruitful and faithful life in the Lord is to develop habits that will result in spiritual power. These habits are called “godly habits.” When we practice these godly habits during casual moments, we will be ready to face our crucial moments. These habits include the following:
- Honor God with your time, talents and treasure
- Attend to your daily communion with God
- Build your knowledge of God through His word and works
- Involve yourself in God-pleasing relationships
- Take care of your own family as God does
- Serve God together with others
Start today. Work on developing each habit in your life. Do this while living through your casual moments. Don’t wait until you have a crucial moment before you develop them. That will be too late. Ask help from others or from a mentor friend. Shalom! (PB)