Brothers,
Most of you know I'm in seminary and it has been a fantastic learning experience. I have learned so much. However, it consumes a great deal of my time. I often find myself skipping my devotional time so that I can work on homework or staying up until midnight and not having a chance to wash my wife in the Word at night like I ought to. When this happens, I slowly move further and further away from the Lord until I am empty, vulnerable and unprotected. It's not hard to figure out what happens next. The enemy pounces..."Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8 NASB). Well it manifested itself in me today in my lack of patience with my precious garden (My wife) and with a co-worker who knows I'm a Christian and that is how I presented Christ to him. Nobody that loves God, treats people that way.
Brothers if you are finding yourself in a bad place, ask yourself these questions, How is my devotional time? When's the last time I was in the Word? What comes first in your day, time with God or other things? Don't even think you can use the excuse that your involvement in ministry gives you an excuse for not nurturing your relationship with Him. God can care less about the ministry if He doesn't have time with you. Don't believe me...check out this devotional that He led me to read today...this day that I was most effected by my distance from Him.
A Heart That Loves God
For I desire loyalty and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6)
No amount of activity for God will ever take the place of a heart
that is right with Him. Through the ages God’s people have been
persuaded that they could please Him through their service and their
offerings, regardless of their heart condition. King Saul offered generous sacrifice, hoping God would
overlook
his disobedience (1 Sam. 15:22-23). David may have assumed that after
all he had done on God’s behalf, God would overlook his sin (2 Sam.
12:7-15). Ananias and Sapphira thought that their generous gift to the
church would compensate for their deceitfulness (Acts 5:1-11). Paul was
certainly one who had thought his zealousness would please God. Alter
his conversion, however, he concluded that even if he had faith to
remove mountains, gave all he had to feed the poor, and offered his body
to be burned for the sake of God, and yet had a heart that was not
right, it would all be for nothing (1 Cor. 13:1-3).
We are
susceptible to the same misunderstanding as all of these people were. We
can be deceived into assuming God is more interested in our activity
for Him than He is in the condition of our hearts. God has
consistently made it clear that He will not be pacified by even the most
generous offerings and zealous service if our hearts are not right with
Him (Mic. 6:6-8). No matter how much we do in God’s service, regardless
of how active we are in our church, no matter how honorable our
reputation in the Christian community, He will not overlook a sinful
heart. His desire is that we devote ourselves to knowing Hirn and
loving Him with all of our hearts.
