But...this is urgent
Surely you know that you become the slaves of whatever you give yourselves to. Anything or anyone you follow will be your master. You can follow sin, or you can obey God. Following sin brings spiritual death, but obeying God makes you right with him. (Romans 6:16)
If we were honest here, we might just cop to the plea of being just a little too close to some things in our lives that are actually taking our eyes off of Jesus at times. We aren't unique in that struggle, my friends. We find ourselves 'opening' ourselves to all manner of distraction when all God asks for is our attention. It is as though we have an 'attention deficit disorder' when it comes to him! We find ourselves tilting this way or that, all at the mere suggestion of ease, enjoyment, or even encouragement. We wonder why we are not hearing God's voice, but could it be we have just allowed it to be drowned out by all those distractions?
The thing we focus on the most is our master. There are so many today that find it hard to just sit and listen. We want things 'on' to distract us, like the TV or background music. It isn't that we shouldn't listen to good music that lifts our hearts toward Jesus, but if we use it as a replacement for actually taking time in his Word, it won't 'fill the tank' quite as well as that time in his Word would. We can use a lot of things as 'deterrents' to taking time with him even without knowing it. If we throw in that load of clothes, sit down to read the Bible, then hear the load knocking about off-balance, do we leave the washer doing the 'balance shuffle' in the laundry room, or do we rush to it to reorganize that load?
That may seem like a little bit of a stretch to use that example, since almost everyone who hears the washer jiggling across the floor will set out to correct the situation as soon as they become aware of it. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we would lay down our 'deterrents' to spending time with Christ just as eagerly? We rush to the unbalanced wash load, but do we rush to find 'balance' once again in our emotions, thoughts, and bodies by getting alone with him, listening to his still small voice, and just enjoying the peace of his presence? If we struggle a bit with the 'urgency' of time with him, maybe it is time to reevaluate our priorities. Just sayin!
If we were honest here, we might just cop to the plea of being just a little too close to some things in our lives that are actually taking our eyes off of Jesus at times. We aren't unique in that struggle, my friends. We find ourselves 'opening' ourselves to all manner of distraction when all God asks for is our attention. It is as though we have an 'attention deficit disorder' when it comes to him! We find ourselves tilting this way or that, all at the mere suggestion of ease, enjoyment, or even encouragement. We wonder why we are not hearing God's voice, but could it be we have just allowed it to be drowned out by all those distractions?
The thing we focus on the most is our master. There are so many today that find it hard to just sit and listen. We want things 'on' to distract us, like the TV or background music. It isn't that we shouldn't listen to good music that lifts our hearts toward Jesus, but if we use it as a replacement for actually taking time in his Word, it won't 'fill the tank' quite as well as that time in his Word would. We can use a lot of things as 'deterrents' to taking time with him even without knowing it. If we throw in that load of clothes, sit down to read the Bible, then hear the load knocking about off-balance, do we leave the washer doing the 'balance shuffle' in the laundry room, or do we rush to it to reorganize that load?
That may seem like a little bit of a stretch to use that example, since almost everyone who hears the washer jiggling across the floor will set out to correct the situation as soon as they become aware of it. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we would lay down our 'deterrents' to spending time with Christ just as eagerly? We rush to the unbalanced wash load, but do we rush to find 'balance' once again in our emotions, thoughts, and bodies by getting alone with him, listening to his still small voice, and just enjoying the peace of his presence? If we struggle a bit with the 'urgency' of time with him, maybe it is time to reevaluate our priorities. Just sayin!
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