(Hmmm...there’s a post waiting to be written in itself...do your daily baths resemble a soaking and scouring...or more like a quick baby-wipe across the face so you can get about your day?)
Spending that kind of time in the word was no doubt a divine appointment arranged and inspired by God for me. So many layers of years of ‘dead skin’ was washed away from my soul and heart. It was a special time for sure that I will never forget. No, I do not spend 7-10 hours a day in the word these days. But I liken it to how after a rocket exerts more power to break free from the force of earth’s gravity and pull during launch, there are adjustments made once it is in space and heading in the intended direction.
That kind of time in the word brought forth a period of deep and cleansing repentance in my life. Which in turn, ushered me in to a place of abiding in His presence that has been simply amazing. (Acts. 3:19). The peace...the freedom...the inner joy and calmness that comes from abiding in Him...is a place I never want to drift from again. And early on, I became keenly aware as to how easily things that can ‘dull’ that awareness of His presence.
A friend told me recently about hearing someone’s take on 1 Peter 5:8 where we are admonished to be ‘sober and vigilant’. Seems for some folks that word ‘sober’ means to avoid or abstain any form of drink or alcohol. I’m gonna bypass that debate concerning ‘drinking’ but will simply say suggest this: Can drinking a couple of beers or glasses of wine ‘dull the senses’? Yep...no doubt. And while Peter was warning us to be ‘alert’ and watchful to a spiritual enemy who was on the prowl seeking to devour...make no mistake about it- plopping down and watching a three hour football game on TV or a movie or TV series can ‘dull the senses’ (spiritual) just as effectively. If you don’t think that is the case, I would challenge you to rethink that.
“Are you suggesting that watching TV is wrong or even a sin?”, you might want to ask?
That is not for me to say. But I have no problem voicing an ‘opinion’ here and state that I’m convinced that no single device has done more destruction to the soul of our country than that television set that we hang in the center of our rooms and arrange all our furniture to face it while we pay hundreds of dollars a month to have anything and everything pumped into our homes and our ...minds and hearts. No doubt, our ‘smart phones’ can play a role as well in keeping our minds ‘captive’.
For me personally, I discovered early on...that my newly discovered and heighten awareness of God’s abiding presence in my life was dulled immediately when I had the TV on wanting to capture my attention and affections. I’m just telling you what I experienced personally, and it was not a problem at all to make a personal choice to be done with it. But that is just me.
I’m not here to debate the pros and cons of owning or watching a TV. My line of thought here stems from my post yesterday as to how one ‘sets their mind on things above and not on things of the earth’. (Col. 3:2)
I closed out yesterday’s post directing you to the very first Psalm and those first three verses. I did not type out the second one but it was a key passage: “But his delight (the blessed man) is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” (2)
“Day and night?” Seriously? So let’s just file that one under ‘poetic, idealistic, noble’ and...just not gonna happen. Am I right, or am I right?
First of all, I can say with much certainty, that God is not suggesting that we all quit our jobs and abandon our families and ‘responsibilities’ and go live in a cave or on a mountain where we can just hum and meditate in solitude all day long until Jesus comes back. There...glad I got that elephant out of the room?
But I am telling you based on what I have personally experienced...and learned from scripture is this: There is a HUGE difference between ‘being a good Christian’, or a ‘faithful church member’ ...and truly ‘abiding in Christ’. I just never knew it could be like this. When abiding in Him, there is just this incredible heightened ...awareness of His presence. And you truly want to keep your eyes and minds ‘fixed on Him as he leads us in perfect peace’. (Isa. 26:3)
It really is akin to my example I used yesterday about getting into a car and keeping your eyes on the road and your car in its lane. Need I remind you as well, that according to Jesus...it is a very ‘narrow lane’ too. (Matt.7:14)
When I drive, I have to be careful because I can easily be distracted when I spot a potentially attractive sunset in the making or an approaching storm cloud and begin thinking of where I want to stop and photograph it. I really believe we lose sight of how many multiple ‘distractions’ there are in this life we live...in this time period we find ourselves in, and in this country particularly with all the ‘toys and pleasures and devices’ we work so hard to accumulate. It is no coincidence how we end up with so many ‘things’ that capture our heart and attention that make it hard to ‘focus on Jesus’ or ‘fix our minds on Him’.
Hebrews 12:1 exhorts us to ‘let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (easily and cleverly) clings to and entangles us (Amp). Then in the next verse we are told we should be ‘looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith’. That use of the word ‘author’ is worth noting given we see that in Heb. 5:9 where Jesus became the ‘author of our salvation to those who OBEY Him’.
We are encumbered by so...many...distractions today. Have you ever tried having a meaningful conversation with someone who was glued to their phone...and would do their best to look up at you occasionally with a head nod as if they wanted you to think they were listening? What if you had some really important information to relay to your 8-year old child; would you do it while the TV was blaring in the room or even attempt it while walking through a big toy store or candy shop? And even if you attempted it, how successful do you really believe that conversation will go?
I’ve mentioned in the past how there was such a tone of somberness and seriousness in the days of the early church. And while there was ‘great joy’ that new believers were experiencing and walking in, there was also a strong sense of ‘fear’ that fell upon them all.(Acts 2:43, 5:11). Again, back to Hebrews where they warned each other to ‘beware’ that they don’t allow the deceitfulness of sin to harden their hearts and they end up departing from the living God’. 3:12-13). In verse 10 there Paul cites how previous generations “always went astray in their hearts”, according to God.
So when we read there how “we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away’ (Heb. 2:1), maybe that is something like what happens if we are driving and we allow our minds to drift on to other distracting things...and then we meet a semi head on as we veered into its path at the last moment.
Jesus warned us of the last days how a ‘flood would come and take people away just like in the days of Noah’. (Matt. 24:39). So when we read how the great dragon or serpent rose up and spewed water out of his mouth to sweep believers away in the ‘flood’ (Rev. 12:15), do you think it might be possible that ‘flood’ may represent anything that can capture our hearts ....and minds where we end up ‘drifting into another lane’?
Let’s finish up in Luke 14 & Matt. 22 where we read the parable of a great supper or wedding feast. They are very similar in thought. Jesus shares this story wanting to give us a picture of His kingdom and an alarming thing that takes place. This call is sent out to all who were invited. (let that settle for a moment...all who were invited and RSVP’d that they were coming). They are told it is time. Look at some of the verbiage used as they began making excuses. Some had just acquired a new piece of land in need of attention. Another had a yoke of oxen needing tended to. Another just got married and had some family responsibilities. Others...just flat out ‘made light of it’ and ‘were not willing to come’. Can I just tell you in case you don’t read those passages...that God was not happy or pleased at all with these people. You might even say they were ‘uninvited’ to this great supper banquet. And these ‘distractions’ they were busy with were not necessarily ‘bad things’.
These past two months have been probably the busiest two months I have encountered in some time. I’ve been blessed with much work and I am fully aware that we have to give attention to demand it in our jobs and such. But I have also been much more aware of the need to stay focused on ‘the road’ as well. Let’s face it...it’s one thing to drive through the country on a clear and sunny day. It’s another thing to drive in a torrential downpour where your wipers barely keep up. Friends...we are living in a time of a ‘torrential’ downpour. Sometimes you just need to pull over off the side of the road and get your bearings. Need I say more?
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