How easy is it to lose track of Christ has called us to? I can list just the common distractions in my own life: job family, activities. If those are not enough, I can add the sinful components: pride, envy, selfishness. The result is that following hard after Christ is never going to be easy. Living the Christian life will always be life walking a balance beam, trying avoid crashing into the abyss of sinful license on one side and sinful legalism on the other.
What provoked my writing today is a Spirit-prompted reminder that our church activities are not exempt from this reality. We are still tainted with sin and any enterprise we embark upon will also become tainted, if we lose focus on the One who called us to the task. Yet, it is so much more expedient to focus on the task, rather than on the God who has set us apart and on the Spirit who will empower us. How often to we stop to consider that God, who created everything by speaking it into existence and has sustained from the beginning until now, doesn't need us. Yet, He desires to use us as we work according to His power, plan and purposes.
Father, I confess I have been short-sighted in too many areas of my life. I have jumped to quickly to the solution in my mind rather than probing your Word and seeking the counsel of the Spirit. I humbly, yet boldly, ask that you help me and others who claim the name of Christ to raise our eyes off the footpath of our own journey and focus instead on the highway of the gospel of Jesus. And Lord, help me, help us to see that this is on just a "spiritual add-on", but a necessary component to every aspect of our lives. In Jesus name. Amen
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