Let Me Not Put Anything Ahead of My Lord

Good soggy morning my friends in Christ! Much demands our attention these days. A job is a precious thing in a world system that requires money as payment. Pleasure is available in so many ways that we may be tempted to live a life of distraction. Work even of the non-paying type can overwhelm our need for our God. Feeling useful is a good feeling, but not if it interferes with our relationship to God. Pain intrudes with forceful misery when we least expect it, blotting out thoughts of anything but begging or grabbing for relief. Politics, especially that of others, may clash with what we believe is right. This in turn causes us to concentrate on political issues when much of the world still cries out for the salvation of Christ. Just when we get a chance to sit down and open the Bible, a call from work jangles our one remaining nerve. Useful to the company has its limits I see by your climbing of the wall.

This world is geared up to smash down our worship of God, any friendly and sharing relationship with our Lord and Savior, and even our dependence on God alone. Distractions fly thick at us as we attempt to stand in our armor of God. Urgencies, emergencies, and a simple call to 'join us for your own good' come from every conceivable source. Christ says that we have much to live for, but the world dumps on us a lot of distraction to live with. The narrow gate is a tough place to enter through!

Jesus gave us one important reminder about these tribulations we experience, "I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) We want to believe at times that means a good overall stomping of the world's nations and systems, but Jesus came as a healer and teacher. As long as the world system is just so darned useful for providing trials and tribulations to grow our faith, I don't see that stomping arriving just yet. Times are tough; for me, for you, and for so many who do not have our hope in Christ. A host of problems may beset you right now, or you may be in a season of relative ease, but Jesus has overcome the world. Place God first in all things and we will get through this with Good News to spare.

God's grace and peace to you on this dampish day.
Bucky