Where is God in your life?

It was an Iranian poet by the name of Saadi who said, "I fear God and next to God, I mostly fear them that fear him not." Ponder that one for just a moment and it might ring true in your ears today. Those who don't fear God are all around us, oftentimes creating such upheaval and havoc that the world has no chance to be at rest for any length of time. Ray Comfort once said, "When men don't fear God, they give themselves to evil." There were no truer words spoken. 

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:8-10)

The lack of reverence some show toward our holy God is sometimes hard for me to understand. How can they look around at all that he created and not see his profound goodness? How can they strive for some 'goodness' in this world, but totally eliminate God from the mix? As with all decisions we make, the one we make about who should control our lives, guide our steps, and help with all our interactions in this world is one we each make on our own. We either choose God first, or we put something else in his place. 

This past week, I heard of a letter sent to some polling place announcing that the elections should be shut down because "we are in charge now". That could evoke some fear in others, but I just have to dig in a bit closer to God's protective refuge and allow his peace to permeate my soul. I have no idea who the 'we' are in that letter, but I know who the "I AM" is that controls my life. That is all I need to know - God is my one true place of safety - he is in control even when it seems like everything else around me is running a bit wonky.

Where is God in your life? If you immediately answer that with 'at the center of all I say and do', take just a moment to ask yourself, "Is he really?" Is there anything or any ideal you place first when things are running well in your life? Do you press into his presence and get into his Word as much when things are running smoothly and there is no conflict or pressure? Or do you find yourself pressing in a bit harder when the pressures mount and drifting a bit when they lessen? 

At the center of all conflict, you will find man has put God aside. He has chosen to put himself in God's place, if even for just a bit, so that his own will and determination might take center stage for a while. If man continues to do this long enough, he comes to believe HE is himself god! Choose to put God first in all your decisions and you will soon realize the folly of believing your own wisdom and strength could ever measure up to God's, much less surpass it! Just sayin!

Life Hack #18 - Get the Focus Right

Life Hack #18:

Dear child, I want your full attention; please do what I show you. A whore is a bottomless pit; a loose woman can get you in deep trouble fast. She’ll take you for all you’ve got; she’s worse than a pack of thieves. (Proverbs 23:26-28)

Marriage - what was designed to be the pledge of one life to another for the entirety of their lifetimes is under attack in society today. We even have issues with figuring out how to define marriage anymore - with everyone trying to "redefine" it to fit their desire. Who believes they will deal with adultery when they enter into marriage, any more than they think they will have to deal with the issues of prostitution or pornography. Yet, today's culture puts the sanctity of this union we refer to as "marriage" to the test with all kinds of issues, doesn't it? What many don't realize is the damage done when they give their hearts (and bodies) to someone outside of the sanctity of marriage - whether it is through prostitution, pornography, adultery, or fornication. It damages the beauty of what God designed within the boundaries of marriage.

This is a call to attention - our "full attention". This is the revelation of a father's heart here - wanting us to realize the gravity of what he is about to share with us. We are asked to listen, but also to heed what is given as a warning. This lesson must be pretty important because he calls us to attention - gets our focus again, as though we may have drifted a little in our attentiveness toward laying all the foundation stones in place one-by-one. Why is there this sense of urgency on his part for us to hear and obey? I believe it is because he has recognized the destructive pull of anything which takes us away from "dead center" and grabs the strings of our hearts, entangling them in its grasp.

We hear the undertones of a concerned father warning against the misdirection of heart which carries a good many into adulterous paths. In the most literal sense, this is the violation of the "marriage bed" - the giving of oneself sexually to anyone other than your spouse. The issue at hand is that of giving one's heart to anyone to whom it does not belong. Our heart belongs to God FIRST. We can actually "whore" our hearts to many a thing or person, can't we? Any time we put another (even ourselves) in the position God deserves, we are "whoring" ourselves to another. We are violating the relationship God wants to have with his people. There is something which entraps us and makes it difficult to get out. Anything or anyone that takes the attention of our heart, grabbing hold of its affections and attention is a dangerous thing. We are called to be alert to avoid it at all cost. 

We are called to keep our hearts pure and in love with the one who gives us the very breath we rely upon for life itself - God. In turn, we avoid the many pitfalls which await us if we don't. The issue at hand is that of focus - for what we focus on the most gets the priority of our attention. To have any other focus than him will introduce many an unwanted issue into our lives, just as much as having any other focus in our married lives other than our spouse would create a similar type of havoc. The call is to pay attention - to get our focus right. We don't get lured by the adulterous or whore when our focus is on the One we love the most! Just sayin!

Self-care beware

The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up. (John C. Maxwell)

Romans 8:5-8 reminds us that, "Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored." What 'moral muscle' have you been attempting to exercise lately? When it comes down to examining the outcome of that 'exercise', do you find that 'moral muscle' had a consistently positive outcome, or did it leave a little to be desired?

Obsession with self is overrated, but it seems that society wants to further that obsession at every turn. Self-help, self-actualization, self-care - all of these are trends that might just indicate how much time and energy we put into taking care of 'self'. I did a search this morning to see how much is out there on the web as it related to 'self-care' - you might be surprised to know there are topics from self-care for women in the workplace, in a dating relationship, as a minority, and even for children. While I am all for destressing and taking care of one's body, mind, and spirit, we can over-indulge our 'self' sometimes - at the expense of others, our relationship with God, and even with our responsibilities in life. 

Most of what we see portrayed as 'self-care' is not all that bad. We need time to refresh our minds and bodies. We should take time to refresh our spirits in prayer and study in God's Word. We should not do this at the expense of others, though. Nor do we do whatever actions we will do for 'self-care' in order to boost our confidence, affirm our ego, or exalt our opinion of ourselves. That flies in the face of what God tells us about how we are to live our lives. We are to focus on God, allowing his Spirit to come through in all our actions, and trust him to renew what needs that deep refreshing within us.

Attention to God first does more to renew our minds, re-energize our bodies, and get us on track with where we should go with our day. Don't neglect this most important step as you consider 'self-care' each day. It will do more for you than any other pursuit of 'self-care' you can undertake. Just sayin!

Your last resort?

What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.  (Matthew 5:32-33) 

I saw something on Facebook some time back that simply read:  "Make God your first priority...not your last resort". Short and sweet, but quite accurate.  "Seek first the kingdom of God..."  It is easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of seeking all kinds of bargains in life, but are they really 'bargains' at all? I use this passage this morning because it really captures well what I feel in my heart right now.  Sometimes we think the gift WE give or the talent WE bring is meant to fulfill the desires of the hearts of someone other than God.  In reality, only ONE gift really fulfills the heart - Christ and Christ alone - only one is truly blessed when we give or use our talent - God.

God is desperately trying to get you to relax - to not be so preoccupied as you go through life!  Don't miss it - God is focused on getting us to a position of not being "preoccupied".  Do you know what this really means?  It means to be so completely engrossed in some pursuit, manner of thought, or task that you are "absorbed" by it.  No wonder we cannot relax!  I need to address a couple of areas on my carpet in the workroom where something has been "absorbed" into the fibers of the carpet. I have "worked" these areas before, but something has obviously been so deeply "absorbed" - worked into the fibers so as to resist the initial scrubbing I have done.  Think about how much we "absorb" of the stuff around us, sometimes not even noticing how much of the "stuff" is being worked into the fibers of our lives.  Now, chew on that one a little.

Fussing or 'worrying' over stuff in life is really a sign of unbelief.  Jesus said it - "People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things..."  He had just given a lengthy explanation to the disciples about not being so caught up in what the latest style is, who should sit at the head of the table, or what you should fill your bellies with.  Instead, they were to be concerned with where they placed their real treasure.  "The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being."  We all have to learn to relax "into" Jesus.  I think of this as what it is like to be so close to another, really free to just melt into their embrace and just "chill" there for a while.  God's greatest delight is in our "chilling" moments in his full embrace.

It is time to get the right focus and keep it.  "Steeping our lives IN God-reality, God-initiative, and God-provisions."  What happens when we pour boiling water over a tea bag? The process of "steeping" begins.  The tea bag is soaking in what it is surrounded by, and in turn the little leaves inside begin to soften, releasing the richness of their bounty and beauty. I think we are often "steeping" in the stuff which just gets soaked up and then "taints" what is released.  What we surround ourselves with is most important in determining what will be released from the "steeping". Keep perspective as you journey on through this troubling time.  Don't get caught up in the frenzy.  Enjoy the relaxation of resting in God's embrace.  You might actually find yourself getting something very "rich" from the experience.  Just sayin!

But me....

Throughout life there have been times all the "rules" just seemed to do little more than aggravate me or make me envious of those who could blatantly ignore them. I wanted so desperately to just ignore all those rules and have a little "fun" in life! If you were totally honest, you would say that sometimes you wonder what value the rules play. Well, even when we don't fully understand the rules, they play an important part in our safety. For example, driving down an open highway at a straight stretch allows speeds of 75 miles per hour. Why? The road is straight, you can see oncoming traffic, and you have less chances of losing control of your vehicle when you are going in a straight line! Get that same vehicle onto a winding road, tall trees all around, with the road barely built into the side of the mountain and you may WANT to drive at 75 miles per hour so you'd get to your destination faster, but there are all kinds of barriers in your way. There is the line of cars in front of you, "crawling" at a mere 45 miles per hour (the posted speed limit for this stretch of road). Then there are the hairpin turns which serve to not only present some pretty significant "maneuvering" obstacles, but also block clearly what lies beyond. In these instances, we may not want to obey the rules, but we are certainly safer when we do!

I think of the Ten Commandments as a set of rules, laid all out nice and neat, in one "tight package". Are they the only "rules" God sets out for his people - no, but they really encompass a great deal of expectations for our safety. Rather than looking upon the "rules" God establishes as burdensome and restrictive, we might do well to consider them in the light of how they are intended to keep us safe. “You must not have any other god but me." (Exodus 20:3) You may be more familiar with this in the traditional King James, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Two words stick out: MUST and BUT. Both are quite strong words. No other option exists - no other person, object, or "great man or woman" must have the place we give to God in our lives. The place within us designed to house God's Spirit is not to be filled with any other. We must look at what it means to not have any other god. See the little "g" there? The instruction is NOT to have any other God (as there is only one God). The instruction is to not have any other god. What is the difference? Plainly put, any other "god" would be anything within our attention or affections which occupies the place designed for God.

Anything which captures our attention (even for a moment in time) has the ability to move upon our affections. It has the ability to draw us in - slight movement toward that object may even be imperceptible at times, but it is movement toward it. Therefore, focusing on what captures our attention the most is a starting place in evaluating if anything or anyone else has moved upon our affections! When we hold anyone or anything else in this important place of affection in our lives, we become consumed by the time and energy it takes to maintain this affection. Affection is built when it is cultivated - therefore, if we invest in the right things, we build the right affections. The instruction to us is to have but one object of our affection - God himself. Why? When he has this focus in our lives, he is free to direct our course, keeping us safe in the "hairpin turns" of life!

We may resist the "rule" of having but one object of both attention and affection, but when we get this right, all other relationships we have fall into line. They actually get a little easier, depth of growth occurs, and extreme value begins to be placed upon what we have within that relationship! It isn't that we value the relationship more than God, it is that we come to value it because God has made it "more" by his presence within it. The problems we seem to focus on the most seem to be a little less significant, almost as though we have been given new energies to work them out. This is why God tells us of the importance of keeping him first. If we get this right - the rest will work itself out! Just sayin!