So I was up at a rather ungodly hour of the morning today, no earlier than 5:20am (a full five hours before my usual awakening). Things happen in the morning! The sun rises, the air is crisp (and chilly), and there is a stillness surrounding you which no other part of the day can offer. I found myself impacted by the undeniable beauty of my surroundings while the sun rose over our splendid city, and it prompted me to meditate on the sheer perfection of our Lord as manifested through creation. All it takes to witness this magnificence is a glance at a lake or a eucalyptus leaf, and yet so easily we still try to pigeonhole its Maker.
The beauty of nature is not what this post is about, though it did start the train of thought that led me to wonder, "Where am I placing God in my life"? Is He another part of my week, or is He first in my life?
Exodus 20:3 - "You shall have no other Gods before me."The implication of this, the first of the Ten Commandments, goes beyond a contextually specific command for the Israelites to put away their Baals and Ashtoreths. In my mind it is saying that God intends us to place him first in our life. Consider it alongside this...
Matthew 6:24 - "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money"....and it is clear that the 'other masters' can be things of our own creation, constructs of society. If money is being warned against, what about other masters - popularity? Internet? Ministry? Joyce Meyer reveals that she once devoted so much effort to the success of her ministry that God had to stop her and ask if it was the ministry itself she was serving, or the God that it was meant to glorify.
1 John 5:21 - "Dear Children, keep yourselves from idols".
As for myself, one master I have been giving all too much time of day for is my Schedule. I subject myself to rigid logistics (which were created by my own former arbitrary definition anyway!) in the name of consistency, and I try to fit God into that. These verses require the reverse - I ought to be placing God first, and working my schedule around Him. My provision is not of my own doing, but is granted freely from my God when I trust in Him. After all;
Matthew 6:26 - "Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"None of us - therefore let us rejoice in the freedom that we can put God first in our lives and have a relationship with Him, and trust that He will cater to the rest.
nice! it's interesting to note that the answer to this isn't so much to go in the exact opposite direction (ie don't plan anything), but to do it all with God first in line.
ReplyDeleteOn a separate note... i've been slacking/struggling with my current entry which i promissed Hunter i'd do 3 weeks ago XD good to see someone is dedicated enough to put up an entry =)
nice... well put...
ReplyDeleteit's a really worthwhile image to not put God as a segment of the pie chart of ou life, but rather, the center of it! so then, the segments we do make - family, friends, work, leisure, ministry are all centred in Jesus. I do family with Jesus at the core... i do friends with Jesus at the core... i do work with Jesus at the core... i do... well, you get te idea!
lovely thoughts dan!
mmm... pie.
ReplyDeletepie is good =)
ReplyDeleteAlright. I suppose I'd write a proper comment seeing as I promised you one.
ReplyDeleteA sermon that I wasn't particularly paying attention to at the time but which has stuck with me over the years, was when I heard Reinhard Bonnke preaching at Hillsong conference a few years ago (we were stuck outside the stadium in the overflow section... fun).
He was talking about how our lives are like a house, and sometimes we have rooms which we shut off from God, we close the door and don't let him in. Maybe we let God into our church life and family life, but exclude him from our friendships or work.
The most intimate relationships we have with other people are when we let them into all the areas of our lives, we let them see us in our entirety - and it's the same with God. He needs to be all over it! In the centre. Just like pie. Mmm... pie.
enough pie talk!
ReplyDeletebut good comment though :)
ReplyDeletebut i like pie!
ReplyDelete