How's your day shaping up? Lots of stuff to do? Another busy one? Maybe not. Maybe it is just the opposite for you. Maybe you have nothing to do. Or maybe you do have something to do but you are avoiding it by reading this? Most likely the third one, right? Life is busy. We have lots of things to organize, plan and do. On top of that, as a Christian, you need to fit in all the God-stuff. Hmmmm, have you ever stopped to think we have it backwards?
What were we created for? What did Jesus die on the cross for? Was it not for fellowship, friendship with Yahweh? So you would think that we would want to fill our day, not the cracks, with him. If that is our purpose, fellowship with Yahweh, should we not be trying to fit everything else in around him? There's a thought for you to chew for a bit.
Jesus has a way of turning everything on its head for us. He takes things from the surface and goes to the depth of understanding with it. So it shouldn't surprise us to know that this is what Jesus taught about life:
Don’t spend all of your time thinking about eating or drinking or worrying about life. If you do, the final day will suddenly catch you like a trap. That day will surprise everyone on earth. (Luke 21:34-35)
It feels like that sometimes, doesn't it, like you are caught in a trap? It is an activity trap, time crunch, schedule controlled life. It is horrible because we have not been designed or wired this way. We have been created and saved to be filled with Yahweh. We are surrounded by him. Scripture says that Christ is in us, and we are in him. He is in and all around us all the time so that we can have the pleasure of rich fellowship with him.
Jesus also taught us not to be worried over the basics of life but instead to put Kingdom things first. He said when we do this Father will provide all the other stuff. Put Yahweh first and everything else will come into place. He told us this for a reason; we get distracted very easily. It is like the whole human race has ADD. We get distracted from Jesus with the least little thing. Jesus warned us that it is a serious matter. He said if we get distracted by these lesser things, the final day will be on us without us noticing. He told us to pay attention:
Watch out and keep praying that you can escape all that is going to happen and that the Son of Man will be pleased with you. (v. 36)
Watch and pray, not be distracted and play. Life has become a thing of working so we can afford to play. It has become entertainment. It has become self pleasure. It is anything the enemy can use to distract us from our purpose and mission. If he can't use pleasure he will use worry or fear. There will always be something to distract us. But if we can turn it upside down and see the day belonging to the Lord for the purpose of fellowship then we will ask him for the wisdom to get everything else done.
It is a matter of choice. Relationship must always come before works. Jesus wants and deserves our time and attention. He says it is also for our good, so we can be sensitive to the spiritual realm and see what's coming. Considering how many times he warned us about this, I take it to mean it is a bad thing for us not to be paying attention. Sort of like someone living in Louisiana not listening to the radio, not watching the news, not talking to a neighbour, not having a clue of an approaching hurricane. Everyone else is putting away the things from their yard, boarding up windows, taking shelter while but that one person is blissfully living out their life unaware and unprepared.
The storm is approaching. Are you paying attention?
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