Christianity
is not a ticket to heaven without any personal responsibility. Jesus made it
clear that He has expectations for His followers: leave all and come follow Him
(Matthew 19:21), take up our cross and die daily (Matthew 10:38), etc.
He
calls us to live and act and have our existence in Him (Acts 17:28). We do this
by walking in His Spirit and doing only the activities which He directs us to
do. Christ is our whole life (Colossians 3:3-4).
God
may call us to include social charities, hobbies, sports, etc. into our life,
because many of these activities unlock our opportunities to share Christ with
people that we may never meet, except for the common bond of these mutual undertakings.
However,
in today's disposable society, it is easy to toss God out or to push Him aside
when our life gets too full. Satan's goal is to distract us away from our time with
God. We allow the "good" things we do to become the enemy of God's
plan for us.
We
are too busy with non-essentials. The tyranny of busyness often consumes us and
lassos us away from our covenant to commit our whole life to God. Dedication takes
effort, discernment, simplifying and prioritizing.
Once
we make time, however, the benefit of worshipping God with our whole body, soul
and spirit is what draws us closer to His presence in us, and develops a more intimate
and loving relationship with Him.
Our
union with the Trinity enables us to function by His power, wisdom, compassion,
dedication, and focus. God desires for us to totally commit our life to Him. We
gain so much more than we give up.
Prayer:
Father
God, remind us that many aspects of life on this earth - seemingly good and
worthwhile activities - are made of wood, hay and straw; while You call us to focus
more of our time on eternal matters that are made of gold, silver and precious
stones (1 Corinthians 3:12-13).
Help
us to establish the discipline of praying without ceasing - having an attitude
of prayer with every thought, word and deed during each moment of our day - so
that we walk in the center of Your will. Then, You will sprinkle our days with
epiphanies and "God moments", ease our load, encourage our triumphs,
and give light to our path.
Thought
for the Day:
In
order to accomplish a dedicated and committed life in Christ, we first have to
sort through the excesses in our life and rearrange our schedule; we start by
eliminating the less important temporal activities, which generally consume our
time.
