1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
It might be an attempt to manage the overflow of information that swamps my mind. It might be the inability to handle more than five or six thoughts at one time. Or, it might just be laziness. Regardless of the reason, I tend to compartmentalize my life.
There is family time, work time, time to eat, and time to relax. There is time to be serious, time to have fun, and time to zone out. Oh ya, and there is time for God. I "give" Him 30-45 minutes each morning and a couple of hours on Sunday. I give Him a short nod before eating and, depending on the meeting, I give Him 90 seconds before we start.
Do you see the problem? The vast, and I mean VAST, majority of my time is not focused on Jesus! God is always with us - He promised! (Hebrews 13:5) As a matter of fact, we can't escape His presence even if we tried! (Psalm 139:7-12)
Today, let's be aware of the immediacy of God. Then in each moment we can prayerfully, joyously, and thankfully experience His presence.
Lon
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3 comments:
My head is spinning! I couldn't get past the scripture verse. "...for this is God's will for you..." How many times have I asked (more like demanded) to know God's will in a given situation? What does He want me [to do] in this situation? Be joyful, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. Honestly, most of time I just wanted to know that I was doing what I should be doing, while waiting on a prayer to be answered. Or at the very least that I was not producing the very barrier(s) I was seeking to get over or around. So now I know...again. Yes, I continually need reminded!
My second revelation here is "joy". "Be joyful always." I have prayed for joy to return to my life for years, but this verse indicates that joy is my choice; an act of the will. It would seem my revelation has become an indictment. I over-think too many things. I suppose my comments on this Blog may attest to that, but knowledge is no substitute for joy. After all, Adam and Eve gained knowledge after they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what joy did that bring them?
Third thing that has rattled my cage this morning: Compartmentalizing God. Lon said, "The vast, and I mean VAST, majority of my time is not focused on Jesus!" We cannot escape from God's presence, so if I know this, why don't I at least acknowledge his presence, like I would if my best earthly friend were to follow us throughout the day? In my mind, that would be praying (communicating) continually. Of course, there are ways of communicating without speaking, but that's for another time...
Jarvis
Amen and Amen.
We are to pray at all times. Walking and talking and being with Him always. I am ashamed to admit that not only are there times I forget He is there, I have times I pretend He isn't.
You know, when I let my anger get the best of me or say something I shouldn't. I pretend that Christ didn't see that. It's a game I play with myself all the time.
The reality is, He knows and so do I. To me making Him a part of everything, allowing Him to permeate all the areas of my life, welcoming Him in: this is worship.
Thank you both for the thoughts today.
Rachel,
I appreciate and resemble your comments. I particularly liked this statement, "To me making Him a part of everything, allowing Him to permeate all the areas of my life, welcoming Him in: this is worship."
I'm preaching about worship (Romans 12:1-8) tomorrow and plan to quote you there.
Thank you!
Lon
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