The busyness of life is more and more distracting to the modern day person and parent. We make sports, music, dance and hobbies a priority over church activities, which teaches our children that worldly pursuits are more important than God in our life.
The way to remedy this modern phenomenon is to align our
activities with Biblical priorities by seeking first God's Kingdom (Matthew
6:33). This causes the noise of life to diminish, and we find more joy and
tranquility in our daily schedule.
Rather than to drown out
God's directives by the noise of worldly pursuits, we reduce the cacophony of
life by making God's will our priority each moment of our day. As the noise of
this world diminishes, the guidance of God's Spirit is more acute and discernible.
We fully experience God's
abundant life, which brings Him glory and honor in our every thought, word and
activity (John 10:10). We come to realize the magnitude of the concept of Jesus
Christ actually abiding in us by His Spirit, and we surrender our goals and
priorities to Him (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Jesus admonished us to live
dramatically different lives from those who live in the world. He encouraged us
to love God more than those in our household and even our own life (Luke 14:26;
Matthew 6:24).
Our love for God is so paramount that we actually feel more love
for Him than we do for anyone else. God has the bulk of our
affections and everything we think, say and do is a reflection of Christ's life
within us (Galatians 2:20).
Our heart swells with our adoration of our God and
Savior, and we serve at the pleasure of our King in our family, church and
community activities.
The worldly clutter in our
life disappears and we live above the clamor of life swirling all around us. We
rest in God and serve from this place of unhindered peace (Hebrews 4:9-11). We
see life from His perspective and we rise above the demands of modern society.
We can also rise above the temporal
issues of this life, the attitudes of our fellow sojourners, and the
circumstances that attempt to overwhelm us. This prevents them from robbing us
of our joy in the Lord.
When we keep our focus on the
joy set before us, spiritual truths actually govern our life. God is still in control,
Jesus sits on the throne and abides within us, and the Holy Spirit will guide
every step we take and keep us in God's will for our life.
Prayer:
Father God, remind us that You
created rest for more than the Sabbath and help us to enter into Your Kingdom's
rest. Open our eyes to the reality of Christ in us and the fact that His
presence in our life removes the necessity of us struggling to survive in this
world. Help the codependent and workaholic to totally surrender to Your
Spirit's direction for each moment of our day, rather than to succumb to the
tendency to enable people and to do more than Your will for our life.
This way we rise above the
stress and negativity of life on planet earth and dwell in Your Kingdom
now. Teach us to rest in Your loving
presence, which will increase our positive emotions and decrease our depression
and anxiety over the issues we face each day. We thank You for Your grace in
our life and for our unity with the Trinity, which abides within us.
Thought for the Day:
Any negative emotion in our
life is a red flag to signal an unresolved conflict within us, an idol we
erected above the Lord, a misleading focus on the importance of the issues of
this life, or that we are walking outside of God's will for our day.
