What things in life drive you to converse with God? Unless you are fairly disciplined about doing daily devotions, it may take a major life event, personal challenge, or opportunity to push you to get in the Word more, or drive you to a deeper level of prayer. It may not always be ‘bad’ things or life events, but it can also be good things, or new opportunities you have come across to grow in your devotional time. If you are like me, it may even be an opportunity to try something you have not done, or done in a while, that brings you back to a hunger to be in the Word more often. If someone challenged you to double the time you spend in the Word each day, would you at least try? If you say 2×0 is still 0, what about spending 15 minutes a day for the next week, is that a challenge you could accept?
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ Matthew 4:4
With the state of this nation and the world this past week, and people being ordered to do things never asked of them before, do you think that would be enough to make someone pause and consider more about their purpose if not their relationship to God? Hopefully. It was estimated that ¼ of the earth’s population has been asked by governing authorities to not leave their homes, for an unspecified amount of time. For extreme introverts, this might be business as usual, but for most of us, there is a limit to how long we hunker down before we start getting really uncomfortable. What are some benefits to this besides not causing other people to die? Maybe you can have some conversations with your family and loved ones (in person, or video, or phone) that you have needed to have but been putting off. Maybe you can put away distractions for a while and spend some quiet time with the Lord, as uncomfortable as it might be. Have you made attempts at doing that?
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
It often takes a big life event or milestone for us to take pause and consider the significance of our own mortality and our place in the world. For most people, it may be during normal life milestones like graduation, starting a new job, getting married, or the birth of your first child or grandchild. Each of these starts a new chapter in our life and opens our eyes to new possibilities. It can also be during crisis situations such as the death of a dear friend or loved one, a health scare or near-death experience, or major events like 9-11, or the coronavirus pandemic. Each of these events has the potential to cause us to pause and push us further toward or away from God, depending on the amount of pride that guards each heart. Major life events can also happen on a seemingly normal day, like the time you first made a commitment to follow Christ. If you are like me, it was a moment that directed the path of your life and your path for eternity…not really insignificant. You make that same choice each day thereafter, to obey God or to turn from Him. But when you are His, your desire is to follow Him and to know and follow his Will. May you find joy in that, regardless of what happens to us each day in this world.
The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:17
Yours in Christ,
Clark
