Our pastor noted that we live in a time and season where Christians permit themselves to be absorbed in media, technology, entertainment, and labor. However, the attention to a consistent, regular devotional practice is typically nonexistent. The standard response of the overworked (or overbooked) is "I don't have time for devotions." But Pastor Martha countered this excuse with these realities:
We have time to log in to social media.
We have time to take showers and baths.
We have time to choose clothing and get dressed.
We have time to purchase, prepare, and eat food.
We have made time for other things: some necessary, some frivolous.
There are some basics that we have decided will not be absent from our daily lives.
Why is it that we have absented the basics of our faith?
Our pastor shared that if we don't eat spiritual food, we are going to die. Our souls must be nourished... and perhaps that is a key reason why many believers never move into the realm of discipleship. Their souls are famished, and have been famished for so long that they've grown comfortable with the emptiness. In the light of Christ, who has modeled for us the importance of being connected to God through meaningful spiritual disciplines, the response "I'm too busy" is a demonic mantric that no Christian should be comfortable saying.
But, there is hope: we can be filled with the presence of God today! We can draw closer to Him today! My hope, my prayer, is that the Lord will renew in all of us a deep desire to eat at His table and drink from His well. Pastor Martha noted that Jesus first called His disciples to be with Him-- to follow Him and to observe His consistent devotion in ministry and in prayer, so that they might be empowered to model His example. If we long to be disciples of Christ, then let us model His example. Love God. Love spending time in God's word. Love communing with God in prayer.
Can we pour out God's love if we're spiritually empty?
Lord, cause us to hunger and thirst for You. Give us grace and courage to make whatever changes are necessary in our schedules, and in our mindsets, so that we might be nourished by Your word every day and transformed by Your presence every day. We thank You for helping us. Amen.
Matthew 7:24-27
“Therefore
everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like
a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the
streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not
fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears
these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man
who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the
winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Scripture
references are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright
©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica,
Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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