Regina 
If you’re anything like me your thoughts can be all over the place. I can go from meditating on the resurrection in the book of Matthew to pondering what pieces to add to my fall wardrobe capsule, both are fine things but you decide which one should merit more of my attention. It’s an easy call right. I can go from memorizing Scripture one moment to barking at my kids the next, from thanking God for His generous mercies to complaining about having to wait on Him for something. I imagine you do the same thing? Maybe you’re more focused and steady than me, but I think most of us are in the same boat here. We are trying to train ourselves to seek Christ with all of our affections while still living on earth in the midst of a whole lot of stuff to distract and probably schedules filled with too much to do.
I’ve determined to give my time to the One who gives me the time, you know?
But sometimes I feel distracted and even perplexed at what I should and should not give thought, time, money, energy, and attention to. I consider it a good struggle as it forces the issue of loyalty & whom I will worship again and again, personally I do not want to feel too at home in this world since the truth is earth is a mere stop for us all, a tiny blip in the measure of time. I found myself mulling over all of this today and thought I would share my simple pondering with you dear friends. Sometimes it’s just good to know there’s someone else struggling the way you are or who even thinks a little like you do. Mostly we need to know that we are not alone. We need to understand that if we decide to cast aside all the distractions, all the participation in LOVING earthly things to end that they are prioritized above loving the Lord, we will not in the slightest way regret it.
The forsaking of idols, which we have all participated in, will never wind up in disillusionment to the contrary the illusion will fade when we determine to worship the true.
It is easy to get swept away with image and materialism and popularity and “keeping up with the Joneses” and indulgence and entertainment and decor and fashion and others people’s opinions and what have you…. But it is with complete Gospel grace, which results in much diligence and much discipline, that we walk in the Way.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Proverbs 16:25
For the most part most people think they are ok with God. Those being pursued by God unto salvation are likely awake to all the ways they fall short of His perfect goodness, but so many others think that God probably even agrees with them and will one day look on in disbelief as they learn that in fact He does not.
For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver! The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!” Psalm 50:17-23
You see, it doesn’t really matter if everyone around you is going the wrong way, you are still accountable for the direction you take. It doesn’t matter if everyone around you is engrossed in whatever sin, your participation in it will be reckoned with by the One who sits on the throne and there is only One judge. We do not get to give ourselves a pass on whatever sin, because that sin is popular in the culture to which we belong. The godly know that those at home in the world belong to it, but this world is not our home. The saints that went before us were bloodied, beaten, bruised, beheaded, crucified, and though we may not live in a time of persecution like that we ought to live as aliens just like they did. Perhaps persecution hangs in the wings, because the saints do not, as a whole, as the Body of Christ, act like Jesus. Maybe we act too much like the world? Let there be no misunderstanding here, I am thankful for the peace we experience and the hard fought freedom we have in this nation to worship. I am simply asking you as I ask myself: do we fit in too well here? Fretting over the same things they fret over, seeking out the same things they seek, longing for the same things they long for… What is to make Christ distinct among people if we do not live as distinct? How shall a movement of God emerge from a people holding on to little of His Words, with little reflection of Him in their actions day to day? There will be no revival no awakening without the saints eyes wide open to His Word to the end that they obey what it says.
My heart is hopeful in the Lord and thankful for His abundant forgiveness and mercy for all the times I’ve participated in worldliness rather than focusing on making every inch of my life mirror His. May the confession of our hearts be true and may the kindness of God keep us from falling. Come Lord Jesus, come.
