Giving Him our First Includes Our Time!
August 11, 2011
This week I had the awesome privilege of hosting my best friend and my cousin at my home. My cousin and I are very close and we are the same age. She has two boys, Ethan and Landon and lives in Florida. She was due for some time by herself and the boys were dropped off with her in-laws. The second night of being away from mom, the boys called to say hello. Misty put them on speaker phone and this little voice comes on the phone and says, "Mommy, how many days until I get to see you again?"...Landon was really missing his mommy.
I started thinking about how precious that is and how much TRUTH lives in that question. It shows that Landon's attitude toward his mom is one of desire, obedience, and adoration. This is the same way we should feel about our relationship with Jesus Christ. "Jesus, how many days until I get to see you again?" Not only should we have this same affection and pursuit to see Jesus in our lives on a daily basis, but we should be anxiously anticipating His return. If we are not, then likely our house, attitudes, behaviors and actions are not reflecting God. If your life does not reflect what God is like, it is because you are not seeking and seeing Jesus on a daily basis with the same type of attitude and longing that Landon showed when he was away from his mom.
What obstacles are in your way? Most individuals greatest excuse is time. Where do you find the time to get to know Jesus Christ? Work / Family / Serving / Activities with kids / there is NO time you may say...But my friend = TIME BELONGS TO THE LORD. Our time is not our own. Scripture tells us in Romans 2 that we are required to know God's word - and if you are not spending time in the word, then you will not know His word. Knowing His word and how it applies to our lives requires our time. If you are not reflecting what God is like, it is because you are not spending time reading His word. Many are not even plugging into worship or a church because by Sunday they are so drained and use the idea that Sunday's are for "family time". Well, our Heavenly Father is supreme - and His ordained order for our time requires that we not do life alone and that we worship Him above all things. Are you exalting above Him the desires you have to spend time on just your Earthly family? And essentially, God gets whatever is left over? Do you realize that God's commandments to give Him all that we possess (Luke 18:12) and the first of everything includes our TIME. The way we spend our time shows us what we really behold. If you are not reflecting God, y ou are reflecting things that are not God centered regardless of how our culture assigns righteous perspective to what consumes our thoughts: work, money, being broke, motherhood, lust, relationships, ministry - Yes even ministry can become our focus and we find ourselves exalting our plans for what we want to have happen to us above what God wants to have happen to us.
You can look at scripture and find several examples of what happens to people who do not give God their time - and see clearly specific areas that you probably can relate to for the things that we behold above Him through our daily routines.
Jonah - Ran from God. Did not want to give God his TIME, but he was okay saying God had his heart. In case you do not know how that turned out - he ended up in the mouth of a large fish for several days and when He finally recognized the need to acknowledge that God owns his time, he was vomited out of the mouth of the fish.
The Rich Man Parable - Luke 18:26, Matthew 19: 16-30 and Mark 10: 17
Through scripture, people who behold their money and possessions to generate a reservoir all to themselves never win. They die without Jesus and all of their things become worthless.
Zaccheus - spent his life treasuring having more money and wealth. Until he SAW Jesus - and on that day he turned over his heart, his time, and his wealth to Jesus and received favor from God.
In 2 Corinthians 6:4 we can look at Paul's life and see that in everything he did, he always communicated about Jesus. He was able to do this because He was communciating daily with Jesus and it reflected in his day to day actions.
What you are reflecting may become someone's excuse for rejecting Jesus Christ!!! If you are not giving 100% of your time - "all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength" as designed by the Lord then you are not capable of reflecting God in your life and seeing Jesus.
David before he was King was a liar, betrayer, adulterer full of lust and things that were all about what David wanted to have happen to David and not what God wanted for David. Many of us are like David. The qualities of what we reflect are all about us - the time we spend drinking for the purposes of getting loopy, using our time to schmooze and hang out in bars, not exercising, eating too much, yelling at our children, being greedy, always thinking of how we can get more money, work longer to have more, not worshiping because there are 'hypocrites' at church, talking hateful about others, using bad language, not praying like should for our spouses and children - and instead we go seek attention from other people's spouses and children. We all know we fall short - Romans 3:23. Every one of us could dedicate more TIME to His plan and knowing His word and using that to Reflect Him in our lives to reach others so they can know Jesus. We see in 1 Samuel that David becomes a shepherd, poet, and overcomes the giant Goliath. David was used by God because he looked at what he was reflecting in his life and aksed God to change him in very specific ways. He also changed the way he was spending his time. He recognized that God greatly desires our time, complete trust, and worship. 2 Samuel 7:28-29
What changes in how you spend your time would it take for God to find this kind of obedience in you?
This week I had the awesome privilege of hosting my best friend and my cousin at my home. My cousin and I are very close and we are the same age. She has two boys, Ethan and Landon and lives in Florida. She was due for some time by herself and the boys were dropped off with her in-laws. The second night of being away from mom, the boys called to say hello. Misty put them on speaker phone and this little voice comes on the phone and says, "Mommy, how many days until I get to see you again?"...Landon was really missing his mommy.
I started thinking about how precious that is and how much TRUTH lives in that question. It shows that Landon's attitude toward his mom is one of desire, obedience, and adoration. This is the same way we should feel about our relationship with Jesus Christ. "Jesus, how many days until I get to see you again?" Not only should we have this same affection and pursuit to see Jesus in our lives on a daily basis, but we should be anxiously anticipating His return. If we are not, then likely our house, attitudes, behaviors and actions are not reflecting God. If your life does not reflect what God is like, it is because you are not seeking and seeing Jesus on a daily basis with the same type of attitude and longing that Landon showed when he was away from his mom.
What obstacles are in your way? Most individuals greatest excuse is time. Where do you find the time to get to know Jesus Christ? Work / Family / Serving / Activities with kids / there is NO time you may say...But my friend = TIME BELONGS TO THE LORD. Our time is not our own. Scripture tells us in Romans 2 that we are required to know God's word - and if you are not spending time in the word, then you will not know His word. Knowing His word and how it applies to our lives requires our time. If you are not reflecting what God is like, it is because you are not spending time reading His word. Many are not even plugging into worship or a church because by Sunday they are so drained and use the idea that Sunday's are for "family time". Well, our Heavenly Father is supreme - and His ordained order for our time requires that we not do life alone and that we worship Him above all things. Are you exalting above Him the desires you have to spend time on just your Earthly family? And essentially, God gets whatever is left over? Do you realize that God's commandments to give Him all that we possess (Luke 18:12) and the first of everything includes our TIME. The way we spend our time shows us what we really behold. If you are not reflecting God, y ou are reflecting things that are not God centered regardless of how our culture assigns righteous perspective to what consumes our thoughts: work, money, being broke, motherhood, lust, relationships, ministry - Yes even ministry can become our focus and we find ourselves exalting our plans for what we want to have happen to us above what God wants to have happen to us.
You can look at scripture and find several examples of what happens to people who do not give God their time - and see clearly specific areas that you probably can relate to for the things that we behold above Him through our daily routines.
Jonah - Ran from God. Did not want to give God his TIME, but he was okay saying God had his heart. In case you do not know how that turned out - he ended up in the mouth of a large fish for several days and when He finally recognized the need to acknowledge that God owns his time, he was vomited out of the mouth of the fish.
The Rich Man Parable - Luke 18:26, Matthew 19: 16-30 and Mark 10: 17
Through scripture, people who behold their money and possessions to generate a reservoir all to themselves never win. They die without Jesus and all of their things become worthless.
Zaccheus - spent his life treasuring having more money and wealth. Until he SAW Jesus - and on that day he turned over his heart, his time, and his wealth to Jesus and received favor from God.
In 2 Corinthians 6:4 we can look at Paul's life and see that in everything he did, he always communicated about Jesus. He was able to do this because He was communciating daily with Jesus and it reflected in his day to day actions.
What you are reflecting may become someone's excuse for rejecting Jesus Christ!!! If you are not giving 100% of your time - "all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength" as designed by the Lord then you are not capable of reflecting God in your life and seeing Jesus.
David before he was King was a liar, betrayer, adulterer full of lust and things that were all about what David wanted to have happen to David and not what God wanted for David. Many of us are like David. The qualities of what we reflect are all about us - the time we spend drinking for the purposes of getting loopy, using our time to schmooze and hang out in bars, not exercising, eating too much, yelling at our children, being greedy, always thinking of how we can get more money, work longer to have more, not worshiping because there are 'hypocrites' at church, talking hateful about others, using bad language, not praying like should for our spouses and children - and instead we go seek attention from other people's spouses and children. We all know we fall short - Romans 3:23. Every one of us could dedicate more TIME to His plan and knowing His word and using that to Reflect Him in our lives to reach others so they can know Jesus. We see in 1 Samuel that David becomes a shepherd, poet, and overcomes the giant Goliath. David was used by God because he looked at what he was reflecting in his life and aksed God to change him in very specific ways. He also changed the way he was spending his time. He recognized that God greatly desires our time, complete trust, and worship. 2 Samuel 7:28-29
What changes in how you spend your time would it take for God to find this kind of obedience in you?
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