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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.

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