The alarm buzzes, awaking you from your dreamy state. Your hand instinctively reaches for the snooze. Just five more minutes, you think. In that drowsy moment, you are unaware of the invisible strings attached to your fingers, slowly guiding your hand.

As you grab that first cup of coffee every morning, an invisible force is already at work. Like a skilled puppeteer, sin is pulling at the strings of your habits, urging you to sleep a little bit longer, skip time in prayer, put off reading scripture, convincing you that you don’t have time to fit God into your busy morning.

Invisible Stings

What are your strings? A Facebook string guiding you to pick up your phone and scroll “just for a few minutes?” A “one more episode” string preventing you from getting to bed, making morning scripture reading impossible? Maybe you have a “I’ll do it tomorrow string,” that’s been pulling on you for years.

We all have those “strings” keeping us from what we do and what we could become. My strings are different from your strings, but we all have them.

But what have you cut those strings by intentionally and consistently weaving God-focused practices into your morning routine? You’re not just adding habits. You’re waging war against sin’s subtle tyranny.

Soul Scissors

When you choose prayer over e-mail, snip the string falls. When you journal, another string breaks. With each act, you wrestle control from the puppet master, allowing God’s grace to lift you up and empower you into the day.

You thought your morning routine was all about getting ready or productivity. It’s not. Your morning routine is a statement. It’s a rebellion against invisible forces that seek to control your day.

How well are you combating those forces?

Subtle Secrets

We sleep in or skip prayer, believing we are lazy or lack willpower. That’s one of the puppet master’s strategies. He wants to stay behind the scenes, hidden, secret, pulling and tugging on our strings unnoticed. Our foe wants us to believe he doesn’t exist, or if he does, he has nothing to do with our mornings.

The Apostle Paul writes about this invisible foe in Romans Chapter 7. He confesses that he is unable to do what he wants. Instead, he does what he hates. Does that sound familiar?

Most people I talk with readily identify with Paul’s plight. We all have a vision of who we want to be, but discover it isn’t who we really are.

Notice that Paul doesn’t list a lack of willpower as a culprit. He points to the invisible enemy, Sin.

Unmasking the Villian

He says that his mind wants to do what God wants, but his actions are different. So, he doesn’t end up doing what he wants but what he doesn’t want.

Something is at work here, and like a good Scooby Doo episode, Paul unmasks the villain. But this isn’t about a man in a rubber mask pretending to be a ghost – this is Sin with a capital S, and it’s been orchestrating our morning failures since the Garden of Eden.

Knowing who the villain is is helpful but doesn’t change our experience. His actions, or lack thereof, make Paul so frustrated that he cries out, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

Rescued

You see, we aren’t the ones who cut the string of the puppet master. Paul knew he was powerless against this foe. Knowing the foe is one thing. Defeating this foe is another matter.

As Paul cries out for someone to rescue him, he already knows who has. He cries out for rescue and then runs to Jesus.

It’s when we run to Jesus that the strings begin to fall. Little by little, over time, as our practices take us to Jesus, we find freedom. As our practices continue to take us to Jesus, the puppet master is less and less master of the puppet.

Ready to Rumble

While you might believe your morning routine is simply showering, brushing your teeth, and grabbing a quick bite before heading out, it’s much more. It’s an opportunity to find freedom and life. It’s an opportunity to take control from the puppet master and give control to Jesus so that he might give you life! Your morning routine is more important than you think.

When you get up tomorrow and are tempted to hit that snooze, remember: you’re not just starting your day – you’re stepping onto a battlefield. Will you be ready to rumble?

The good news is that you’re not fighting alone. Jesus stands ready to cut those strings, one morning routine at a time. What string will you let Him cut first?

This is part of “The Formative Path” a 2024 Fall Sermon Series at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Bloomington, Indiana. For more information and the Weekly Reflection Sheets, go to https://ponderingpassages.com/category/path/