Sorry that it has been a while since I have written any post. I know many of you enjoy reading these. There has been a lot of transitions going on in my life that have kept me from being online, let alone blogging. The biggest of these transitions is my family's move to Chicago. Yes, that's right. My dad just recently got a job at the Moody Bible Institute as chief investment officer. So I am really excited for him, but the move down here is really stretching our time budgets. Thus the absence of any recent blog posts. But, I am glad to say that I am back to blogging, and really excited to share once again what is on my heart and what God is doing in me and those around me.
Just like I have been experiencing recently, life never seems to let up. Whenever you think you have reached the end of your list - or are getting close - you look back at the list only to find a hundred more things life expects from you. It never seems to end. The days seem to blur together. The noise of life never ends. And after a while life looks like a child's painting - lots of things going on, but little of it makes any sense.
In the middle of all this, it gets rather difficult to see God or to experience His presence. When our attention is stretched so thin, and when we are distracted everywhere - phones, texting, Facebook, Twitter, anything Google, apps, games, parties, sports, television, music, fashion, and so on - it becomes really difficult to see God anywhere. When we let our minds be intoxicated with so much stuff, our hearts are the part of us that begin the process of spiritual suffocation. It is slowly separated from being set on God because it always distracted. And after a while, our spiritual lives feel like they shrivel up and die.
There is a band that I really like to listen to. The are called Welcome Wagon, and they have a song titled "Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing." I like the way that song title is phrased because it refers to so much more than sexual purity. Purity simply means nothing is present that would detract from the value of something. A diamond, for example, is pure when there are no defects or inclusions. And a heart is pure when love for God is all that fills it. There is nothing else in the will of the pure heart than to be with God and love him deeply.
The bottom line is this: A heart that is purely filled with the love of God will do what it takes to remove the distractions.
What are somethings that are distracting you from a closer relationship with God?
May I lovingly encourage you to stop making excuses today, and put them away?
The change starts now. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Resolve to put away the distractions.
Just like I have been experiencing recently, life never seems to let up. Whenever you think you have reached the end of your list - or are getting close - you look back at the list only to find a hundred more things life expects from you. It never seems to end. The days seem to blur together. The noise of life never ends. And after a while life looks like a child's painting - lots of things going on, but little of it makes any sense.
| When we are distracted everywhere, it becomes difficult to see God anywhere. |
There is a band that I really like to listen to. The are called Welcome Wagon, and they have a song titled "Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing." I like the way that song title is phrased because it refers to so much more than sexual purity. Purity simply means nothing is present that would detract from the value of something. A diamond, for example, is pure when there are no defects or inclusions. And a heart is pure when love for God is all that fills it. There is nothing else in the will of the pure heart than to be with God and love him deeply.
The bottom line is this: A heart that is purely filled with the love of God will do what it takes to remove the distractions.
What are somethings that are distracting you from a closer relationship with God?
May I lovingly encourage you to stop making excuses today, and put them away?
The change starts now. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Resolve to put away the distractions.
Right on! While moving, we've given more than half of the things we've collected over the 20 years...it is all just stuff. Look around you what "stuff" or "baggage" are you carrying physically, spiritually or even on your body. Be efficient for God and Christ. Let the Holy Spirit strip you of the unwanted and carry only the necessary-you will find it is Christ, His people and His Word that are necessary. Where do we carry it? Answer: to those that do not have it. Good job - right on Brant.
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