Skip to main content

Forsaken The Love?

       Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. (Revelation 2:4)

How often do you think that something other than God has any importance?

Ministry      Spouse        Ministry      Citizenship  Books          Self-improvement

Job              Children      Charity       Politics        TV shows   Food

Activities    Parents        Friends        Community Internet       Pets

Sports          Siblings       Neighbors   Reputation  Education    Something else

If asked, of course, you would say that God is most important, but if you examine your life, is there evidence? If you were put on trial, is there any evidence beyond your confession that God is a significant part of your life? And, if there is evidence that might lead others to that conclusion, is it merely a reality in your life, or is your reputation as a “good Christian” involved?

This is one of the problems we face. All of the things listed above and more are validly important. But if we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, there is no room for anything else to take priority over God. But does that mean we’re to ignore responsibilities? Must we lose our jobs because we’re too busy in prayer or Bible study? What if prayer or Bible study becomes more important than God? Should we be obsessed with ensuring that nothing else comes between us and God? If we are, hasn’t that become more important than God? And anything can become more important than God.

I’ve written about Brother Lawrence’s solution to this before. When he realized that he was getting caught up in something, he confessed it to God, also confessed that he could not possibly do otherwise apart from God’s work in his life, and returned his focus to God. God only asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac once. I think we can expect God to bring it to our attention if we’re not attending Him as we should, but we need to have our minds made up so that when He does, we will turn from the other thing to Him. And if He doesn’t, we shouldn’t fret.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more