Human beings are double-minded. There is no other way to explain how we long for something eternal, but try to fill that longing with something temporary. Endless books, television programs, movies, music, internet sites, electronics and the pursuit of other pleasures (material and physical) pull at each of us every day for our attention. We not only freely give ourselves over to these things, but we do so without thought of consequence. These things by themselves aren’t inherently evil or destructive, but the way in which we approach them and our actions regarding them can most definitely be both.
“… What shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
There are few Christians that set out thinking “how will I avoid God today” or “how can I spend my time today without God”, but yet it happens. Some of us go days without prayer, worship, thanksgiving or praise being lifted up to Him. It seems as if we want to identify God as just another thing or item we can come back to when the mood hits. It would seem we have failed to realize God is not a thing, but instead is the Supreme Being who is the Creator of all. How is it that we Christians have become so flippant about His very nature? Where is the reverence? Where is the acknowledgement that all life is sustained by Him? Where is the desperation to be with Him, walk with Him, and talk with Him?
I am angered not only at the Christian community, but also with myself for allowing so much of my time to go unchecked. “The lusts that captivate us and the thirst for unbridled pleasure, success, or material things have certainly taken on far more importance to many people than any considerations of eternity” (David C. Egner). Just as with any relationship, the quality time spent with the other individual is what allows for continued growth and closeness. No relationship can flourish or be nourished by spending only 2 or 3 hours a week with the individual—church on Sunday. For those Christians that don’t even attend regular worship service, I shudder to think of when their time with God comes. I truly believe that we sometimes forget we are not promised any more than this moment. Moments through which we can choose to spend time filling our longings with an eternal God or filling our longings with distractions. To think of these things as anything other than a distraction is to not take seriously the consequences of the amount of time some of us give to each.
When we fill every second of our time with worldly distractions, the consequence is a life lived without God. He doesn’t need us…He wants us. The Creator of all life wants to be in a relationship with each of us. He wants to spend time with each of us, to develop us into wholeness and completion. This requires openness on our part, openness of mind, heart and time. If the distractions of this world are preventing you from daily quality time with God, please reconsider the amount of time you devote to each. “It’s not worth the cost of your eternal soul” (David Egner).
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Sustenance
READ: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you —Matthew 6:33
When we look at these words of Jesus, we immediately find them to be the most revolutionary that human ears have ever heard. ". . . seek first the kingdom of God . . . ." Even the most spiritually-minded of us argue the exact opposite, saying, "But I must live; I must make a certain amount of money; I must be clothed; I must be fed." The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God but how we are going to take care of ourselves to live. Jesus reversed the order by telling us to get the right relationship with God first, maintaining it as the primary concern of our lives, and never to place our concern on taking care of the other things of life.
". . . do not worry about your life. . ." ( Matthew 6:25 ). Our Lord pointed out that from His standpoint it is absolutely unreasonable for us to be anxious, worrying about how we will live. Jesus did not say that the person who takes no thought for anything in his life is blessed— no, that person is a fool. But Jesus did teach that His disciple must make his relationship with God the dominating focus of his life, and to be cautiously carefree about everything else in comparison to that. In essence, Jesus was saying, "Don’t make food and drink the controlling factor of your life, but be focused absolutely on God." Some people are careless about what they eat and drink, and they suffer for it; they are careless about what they wear, having no business looking the way they do; they are careless with their earthly matters, and God holds them responsible. Jesus is saying that the greatest concern of life is to place our relationship with God first, and everything else second.
It is one of the most difficult, yet critical, disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into absolute harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses.
--Oswald Chambers
When we look at these words of Jesus, we immediately find them to be the most revolutionary that human ears have ever heard. ". . . seek first the kingdom of God . . . ." Even the most spiritually-minded of us argue the exact opposite, saying, "But I must live; I must make a certain amount of money; I must be clothed; I must be fed." The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God but how we are going to take care of ourselves to live. Jesus reversed the order by telling us to get the right relationship with God first, maintaining it as the primary concern of our lives, and never to place our concern on taking care of the other things of life.
". . . do not worry about your life. . ." ( Matthew 6:25 ). Our Lord pointed out that from His standpoint it is absolutely unreasonable for us to be anxious, worrying about how we will live. Jesus did not say that the person who takes no thought for anything in his life is blessed— no, that person is a fool. But Jesus did teach that His disciple must make his relationship with God the dominating focus of his life, and to be cautiously carefree about everything else in comparison to that. In essence, Jesus was saying, "Don’t make food and drink the controlling factor of your life, but be focused absolutely on God." Some people are careless about what they eat and drink, and they suffer for it; they are careless about what they wear, having no business looking the way they do; they are careless with their earthly matters, and God holds them responsible. Jesus is saying that the greatest concern of life is to place our relationship with God first, and everything else second.
It is one of the most difficult, yet critical, disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into absolute harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses.
--Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Good Enough...
Let me start by saying I am a fan of Oswald Chambers. To date, I have not read a devotional that speaks more clearly to my life. With that being said, the content of my post relates to yesterday’s devotional from My Utmost for His Highest--
"So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually and that is through focusing and concentrating on God."
As an individual who desperately wants to be of use to God, not out of some vain conceit, but out of my feeble attempts of showing love to Him, this statement knocked the wind out of my sail. If many of you are readers of Chambers, you know that usually the most impactful of his statements are the simplest ones. (And how many times are most truths found that way?) Statements like this always seem to reorder my worldview and allow me to see my part in the grand scheme.
Nothing I do will ever be good enough.
Looking at this from a worldly perspective is disheartening to say the least. We all want to be useful in some way—to contribute, to know we have an impact. But a sentence like the one above does not allow room for our contributions in the conventional sense. However, looking at this from a spiritual perspective offers hope. Control of design and efforts are taken out of our hands and placed in the One who has true control and who should be guiding. This allows for more freedom in our spirit, because we don’t have to constantly be worried about how to structure our efforts so that they are the most useful to the Creator of the universe. When looking at the previous sentence, it almost seems silly that we would ever approach it from a worldly perspective as Christians.
How many areas of my life have I screwed up trying to devise a “plan of action” for a goal that God has revealed to me? (the answer—countless) Looking at it objectively, I see myself as the pesky little kid trying to help her father build something—only, I don’t know the complete design. My heavenly Father has revealed components, snippets of a complete design and I eagerly raise my hand to assist. This type of assistance is only useful when He guides me and devises the plan, not when I come up with one of my own. I often wonder to myself “what can I do to align my day as service to God?” Chambers begs us to ask a different question… “how can I focus and concentrate on God today?” God will use me, not because I have a grand or creative idea about something, but because I stay focused on Him. Bottom line—everything else flows from my focus on God. How easily I seem to forget this at times…
"So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually and that is through focusing and concentrating on God."
As an individual who desperately wants to be of use to God, not out of some vain conceit, but out of my feeble attempts of showing love to Him, this statement knocked the wind out of my sail. If many of you are readers of Chambers, you know that usually the most impactful of his statements are the simplest ones. (And how many times are most truths found that way?) Statements like this always seem to reorder my worldview and allow me to see my part in the grand scheme.
Nothing I do will ever be good enough.
Looking at this from a worldly perspective is disheartening to say the least. We all want to be useful in some way—to contribute, to know we have an impact. But a sentence like the one above does not allow room for our contributions in the conventional sense. However, looking at this from a spiritual perspective offers hope. Control of design and efforts are taken out of our hands and placed in the One who has true control and who should be guiding. This allows for more freedom in our spirit, because we don’t have to constantly be worried about how to structure our efforts so that they are the most useful to the Creator of the universe. When looking at the previous sentence, it almost seems silly that we would ever approach it from a worldly perspective as Christians.
How many areas of my life have I screwed up trying to devise a “plan of action” for a goal that God has revealed to me? (the answer—countless) Looking at it objectively, I see myself as the pesky little kid trying to help her father build something—only, I don’t know the complete design. My heavenly Father has revealed components, snippets of a complete design and I eagerly raise my hand to assist. This type of assistance is only useful when He guides me and devises the plan, not when I come up with one of my own. I often wonder to myself “what can I do to align my day as service to God?” Chambers begs us to ask a different question… “how can I focus and concentrate on God today?” God will use me, not because I have a grand or creative idea about something, but because I stay focused on Him. Bottom line—everything else flows from my focus on God. How easily I seem to forget this at times…
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