So this week, we talked about the famous Matthew 6:33 verse: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
There are three things that our pastor challenged us to seek God first in:
1. Devotion
2. Day
3. Pay
We all get excited about sports games. We cheer when Tebow makes a historic comeback. We drop 70 dollars to see a regular season NBA game. We follow politics avidly. We bookmark FOX news on our browser. We get RSS feeds to our phones. We spend tons of time on social media. If you added up all the time you spend on email, Facebook, twitter, reading blogs, etc, what would it be? I bet it would be more than the time you spend in prayer.
And this isn't a lecture. I'm the worst of sinners when it comes to this.
I have been challenged to think about this: Do I give the first part of my devotion, the lion's share, to God?
Giving the first part of devotion involves giving the first part of our day.
In recent weeks, I've been so busy that if I'm squeezed for time, what goes out the window? Prayer and Bible study. If I have a deadline that evening and I need an extra hour, what gets cut? Prayer and Bible study. I need to change this. I need to put God first.
Finally, (and not as relevant to me at this stage), is pay. It's not about being legalistic. It's about giving our first fruits to God. It's about being dependent on God in the area of finances.
That's why my New Year's Resolutions are:
1. Commit to spending more time in prayer.
2. Check my heart and cast out any idols in my life. By idols I mean "things that take up too much of my devotion and time" or that I value more than God.
3. Be more dependent on God and less on myself.
What do you guys think?
Excellent points and considerations. It gives me something to think about in my life.
ReplyDeleteI find this statement so ironic:
ReplyDelete"If you added up all the time you spend on email, Facebook, twitter, READING BLOGS, etc, what would it be?"
Anyway, good post.
haha. That's right. I thought about that when I wrote it. :DDD
ReplyDeleteIt was a joke.
This whole article was creepily similar to the sermon I heard on Sunday. O_o Except that our evangelist used "Keeping up with the Kardashians," and Mutant Ninja Turtles as his examples of time wasters.
ReplyDeleteGood post, though! Some good points to keep in mind.