Bible Verse of the Day


2 Peter 1:5-8


For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Not One More Thing

I have written before about waiting to hear from God before I write the morning blog. It is named Truth in the Morning for a reason. Some mornings, like this one, I do not readily receive divine inspiration quickly so I take some time to go back and read writings I’ve done over the years. It serves to get the creative juices flowing and helps me focus in on what might be a gentle nudge from on high.

As I was reading this morning I began to see a pattern or at least a frequent common thread. I had written many times about making time to spend with the Lord…..many times! I talked about making it a priority in our day-to-day lives. I talked about tithing the first time of our day to the Lord. I had written about structuring our time. Like I mentioned, it was a common thread over the years.

While reading one piece a line jumped off the page at me. It said in part…’…spent all her time on the harried and hectic activities of her everyday life.’

Indeed, that is what we do, isn’t it? We can get so absorbed in the activities we choose to do that we rarely look up. Our time is valuable. If we are spending time on it, we must consider it important. How often have you said or heard someone say they were so busy they could not do one more thing?

“I didn’t have time.” These are very popular words; people say them all the time. I know I’ve been guilty of saying that. When I wrote a daily e-mail devotional and encouraged people to spend time in God’s word, I heard that often. People would say they wished they had the time to read the Bible before work or before going to bed but they were just too busy. Not enough hours in the day.

It is all about choice, People! There are things in our days that we can not change but most of our activities, most especially the mental ones, we choose. We have, as a people, been bitten by the bug of self-importance and we scratch the itch of delusion that bite leaves behind.

It may take creative re-organization of your time and/or some editing of activities, but you DO have time….by choosing to spend it on something else, you are choosing not to spend it with the Lord.

Does that sound harsh to you? Perhaps it is; the truth behind the statement, however, can not be denied. The very moment you acknowledge that to yourself, you can start to make the changes necessary. You no longer are able to tell yourself that your activities are more important than spending time with the one and only living God. Something somewhere can be eliminated so time can be set aside for godly pursuit. I’m not talking about a monk lifestyle where you walk around in robes chanting; I’m talking about taking time each day to honor, worship and grow in understanding of our Lord. This isn’t just a suggestion I came up with, it is scriptural.

You can be alone with God on a crowded bus when your relationship is a priority. Get creative in carving out time to spend with the Creator. You plant the seed of time with God and you will reap an abundant harvest.

Those three simple statements could be life changing IF you choose……life is but a series of choices. Nothing is more important than fellowship with the Lord…..not one more thing.

As for me and my house…….

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Connie,
You are right - its easy to find excuses for not spending time with God - but it is vital. Haven't had a chance to read your blog lately -very good and inspired! God Bless, Nancy