Clinging to God is not something that happens automatically. It is not a passive development; it is an active choice. In the words of Don Carson, "We don’t drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, we will not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. Instead, when we are passive and complacent we drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated."¹

Having come to faith in Christ the Spirit has freed our wills and renewed our hearts, but he has not removed our sinful natures. We must continue to fight against sin and we must know that it is a war that will continue until the day of our death or Christ’s return, whichever comes first. And knowing that we are in this war we must not be passive. We must not just sit around and wait for God to work in us whilst we continue to fill our minds and hearts with the latest Hollywood ideals by means of Netflix or Showmax. We must not allow our kids' hearts and minds to be formed by men and women who have no concern for God’s kingdom. Be awake to the fact that the world around us has a very different idea as to what makes the good life and it wants to force us into that mould. The patterns we establish in our homes, the regular rhythms of everyday life must be deliberate and planned. Healthy, godly living is not an accident but a choice. Beware of your sinful nature.