Forgive me, now, 'cause I have been unfaithful.
Don't ask me why, 'cause I don't know.
So many times I've tried, but was unable.
This heart belongs to You alone!
......
Forgive me, I'm ashamed. I've loved another.
I can't explain, 'cause I don't know.
No-one can take Your place, there is no other.
Forever Yours and Yours alone!
("Forgiven," by Skillet)
It can be easy to fill our minds filled with so much stuff. Family, friends, work, school, guys, movies, and so on... For me, it is very convicting to look at how much time I spend dwelling on these things. I vocalize that Jesus is my priority, but how much time of my day do I spend with Him? In America, I feel like we often trivialize how important God truly is. If an individual generally spends 15 minutes every day (give or take snooze button days), they're doing great, right? I just can't help but wonder... is there more to being a Christian than that?
Even if I do manage to squeeze in 15 (or... gasp... 30) minutes of God-time into my day, how does that compare to the rest of my life? How many hours did I spend on facebook or hanging out with friends today? What percentage of my thoughts were consumed with that cute Christian guy? I know that it would be an extremely humbling experience to math out how much of my day isn't for Christ. What does God have to say about that?
"You shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3)
Now, I've been a Christian my whole life. I've never worshiped nature or a statue... but I worship other things. My dreams, guys, friends, my desires to be appreciated, loved, and thought of as beautiful. But if those things are being put above God on my priorities list, they're becoming gods in my life. Idols. I want my life to be different from this, I want it to be 100% Jesus.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Pray continually. I can't even picture what that could look like in a person's life. Imagine, prayer can be more than "rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for this grub," or even the more devout "God, please help me to not kill my brother today..." Whatever a continual-prayer-life looks like, that's what I want to look like. I want to be so consumed with the love of Christ that He truly is the biggest focus. I want to get to the point that I would be joyfully willing to give up everything else in my life.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
I don't know, time spent with friends and family bonding and spreading love; time spent walking through the park basking in the warm sun and listening to the breeze in the trees......... how can you possibly be closer to God than that? Jesus preached love above all so time spent with love in your heart brings you as close to him as time spent in prayer and thinking about him. The best worship is to be the best person you can be and you certainly seem to be doing that.
ReplyDeleteKat, I absolutely agree! Even looking at Jesus' life on Earth, yes He spent immense amounts of time in prayer and service, but He did also spend time just with his disciples. Loving the people closest to him.
ReplyDeleteI would never say that the experiences and loves and joys in our life are wrong. If it were so, there would be no poing to life on this Earth! God is the creator of love and relationships. But my challenge to myself and others is to assess whether the good things of life have overcome us or not. Even beneficial things, like attending church or serving the community, could potentially become idols if they come before God in our lives.