When’s the last time you stopped doing and thought about being - thought about being with?
We’re all with
a lot of the time.
We’re with family, with friends, with
co-workers, with schoolwork, or we’re surrounded with people, with images, with
thoughts, with feelings, with ideas.
We can get so caught up in doing that we forget
how to do the being; we forget to look around us. We forget to see who and what we are with and
how that’s influencing us.
We communicate with our family because that’s
just what we’re supposed to do, yet how often do we think about enjoying being with them?
We do our school or go to work because we need
to do it, but do we think of how we’re influenced by what we’re being surrounded with – the lyrics in
the restaurant or that overheard conversation?
What about God?
My pastor posed an interesting question this
last Sunday: “Are we so caught up in doing for
God that we forget to be with God?”
“He has
told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do
justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).
“…to
walk humbly with your God” Yes, our
God wants us to do right things. He
wants us to love kindness. He just
doesn’t want us to do those actions, though;
He wants a walk with us.
Let it sink in.
God doesn’t just want what we do; He wants to
be with us.
The God
of the Universe loves us enough to not only want our holiness, but to want our
heart; He wants to walk with us through life.
If we choose to walk with God, are we going to benefit?
“… with God all things are possible’”
(Matthew 19:26, emphasis added).
When we choose to come to God, listen to Him,
and seek Him, we are going to have benefits!
Anything is possible for the Lord, and walking with Him shows us new possibilities. We’ll see new opportunities. We’ll see opportunities to love; maybe we’ll
see that our mom just needs a hug. We’ll
see opportunities to help people; maybe our brother needs someone to challenge
him to become who he can be. When we are
walking with God, He’s not only going to show us what other things are possible
for us to do with our lives, but He will, also, make things that seemed impossible become possible.
If we don’t choose to walk with God, who else
might we be walking with and what does that mean for our lives?
“… don’t
you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend
of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4, emphasis added).
Being friends with the world means that we’ve got enmity against God. Enmity is “the state or feeling of being
actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.” When you find yourself forsaking God and
pursuing the world, stop and ask yourself this question: do I want to be
opposed to the Almighty? We can learn even
from this verse’s specific phrasing: we
are the ones who actively choose to
be a friend with the world. With this
choice are going to come consequences; we become enemies of God. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to
be an enemy of the Creator.
Ultimately, here’s what it comes down to: Who are you going to choose to be with?
Who you’re choosing to be with is going to
affect who you are.
Who you are is going to affect what you do.
What you do is going to affect what kind of
life you have.
If you choose to walk with God by seeking Him
and obeying His word, new possibilities are going to be found and impossibilities
are going to become possible.
If you choose to be friends with the world,
you’re going to be God’s enemy.
Choose
wisely.
© 2014 Deborah Hope Shining
1 comments
Well written ! It contains both:Sound Doctrine and reaching out! Read it a long time back. Convicting! Because of HIS GRACE we are not consumed!
ReplyDeleteI definitely don't want this to be a monologue. What are your thoughts? Questions? Ideas?