How Soon We (tend to) Forget
It's amazing to me that week after week I get so caught up in ministry that I forget what life is really all about. My life consists of a routine of business with all the duties of my job which entail planning and preparation for Sunday's services, working on materials and new songs along with a ton of other things. In the time crunch to get everything done and done well, I can find myself too busy sometimes for God Himself. Can you relate to what I'm saying? The danger of combining ministry and the driven personality is to forget the basics of life. Why does someone spend the whole day working to please God, when in reality what God really wants is for us to spend the whole day with Him? How is it that we cannot find the time to sit down with God and visit with Him because we are too busy serving Him? What a funny and yet sad oxymoron.
Because I am a driven person, I will find myself wanting to wake early in the morning to get my devotions and prayer time done, so that I may get on with my day. I actually justify in my mind reasons for hurrying through what I need most, my time with God, to do want I feel He wants me to do. The reality is that I do what I want to do and He gets the short end of the stick. How backwards is that? Have we come to the point in life where "doing" is priority one? Service above relationship? In a marriage, this type of attitude and lifestyle would bring about a quick divorce, and yet with God, we race by Him each morning as we are out the door to "do life" or "His work." I believe that the verse "Be still and know that I am God" was written for me. Whether this verse is saying to stop what I am doing and spend time with Him or not, it's what I need to do. I have a tough time being still for anything! I know what I need to do and yet justify it by my works and desire to serve.
What the solution? I remember as a young Christian, I was not very committed to God and His calling on my life. I was a Christian, but I wasn't a committed one. I came to the point one day where I sat down with the Lord and said, "God, today I want to start anew. Today I commit myself to do your will for my life. I begin with committing to spend more time with you." What a change! From that time on I made it a point to begin and end each day with God (not to mention praying through the day). It was an awesome period in my life because few things mattered more than those times with Him. I saw God in a new and fresh way, and our relationship matured into something that was real and genuine. It was one of the best times in my life as He became my priority.
Since then I have become more focused on serving Him and less focused on knowing Him. Is it the same? No, but I have made the commitment again to re-focus my life. God still uses me in ways that surprise me, and I am grateful to Him for it. However, I want to know Him more. I want to spend more time with Him alone in prayer and His word. It's why He created us isn't it? As with any relationship of substance, we need to spend time together. Don't get caught up in the doing and miss out of the receiving of His love and grace that only comes from time spent with Him. I know of no woman that would truly love a husband who spent all his time working for her and no time with her. There may be a few but it's not a reciprocal love relationship that allows each other to flourish.
We need to remember why God created us. He longs for us to sit with Him and visit. He longs for us to hear what He would have for us. He longs for us not only to serve Him, but to know Him. I am afraid that when I stand before Him someday, He will point out all the things I missed in life because I was too busy to hear His voice. Commit with me today to start a fresh relationship with the Lord by spending less time working for Him and more time with Him. I truly believe it's what He desires. For the lost person on the day of Judgment, God will not say, "Depart from me for you never served me," but will say, "Depart from me for I never knew you." Enough said, right?
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This is the debut album by EXW friend Paul Langford. Paul is a Chicago based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. Paul has a career that spans 14 years. Paul's work includes arranging for groups like GLAD, Voices of Liberty, VoiceTrek, The Chicago based "Caroling Party" and Day of Discovery Singers. His arranging has appeared on recordings side by side with greats like Gene Puerling and David Maddux, and he has sung with Don Shelton, Bonnie Herman and Bob Bowker, among others.