Dear Lighthouse,

 

            Sorry that this is coming to you late this week, but it has been a busy week - do any of you know the feeling?!?  I know it!  It is during the busy times in our life that we do come under the temptation to forget or mismanage our priorities.  In the days of “super-sized” drinks and fries and waistlines, we are tempted to “down-size” the most important things in the rush to obey the tyranny of the urgent.  It seems that the most important things do not cry out for attention.  Thanking a spouse for their time and love, praising and child for their good works, and quietly folding one’s hands in prayer after reading God’s Word are things that can go overlooked so long that it becomes commonplace and habitual to forget.  We begin to take for granted our marriage, our family, and our God.  Do not sacrifice the most important things on the alter of convenience or self-centeredness. 

            In the race of life, God does not take second place.  God does not win the best supporting actor award.  God does not fit in with things, God is all things. (Col. 1:16-17)  It is this mentality that is the very key to understanding God and what He wants of believers.  God made the whole universe to show Himself to us, interact with us, and be the center of our lives.  At first, some may say that God wants to much of me.  But, when you examine who He is and what He has done, we should soon realize that He has given us the very creation in which we live, given us the life we have, and, due to our rebellion in acknowledging Him as God, He even went as far as to provide Jesus as a sacrifice to allow us to come back into His original family plan.  Hmmm, it seems like God has done quite a bit for us already. 

So, what’s He want out of it?  Answer:  you.  Just you.  Come as you are to the cross today.  Come as you are into God’s family today.  As we have been studying in Sunday School, God has revealed Himself slowly and in stages since the Fall of Man.  He has given Man time to comprehend Him and come to terms with our own nature. (II Peter 3:9) God has not and will not force you to become a Christian.  Nor will He force His children to put Him at the center of their lives.  But, what is lost if you don’t?  Answer:  you. 

Ironically, the last thing God gave Man was free choice.  The ball’s in your court now.  If you refuse to acknowledge Him, He will not acknowledge you. (Mark 8:38)  If you choose to put God in a box for times of need, then your need is greater than you realize.  If you put God on your list of priorities anywhere below #1, then you don’t understand that you were #1 on His list when He sent His best - Jesus - as a ransom for you. (John 3:16) It is so incredibly easy to become a Christian, but so incredibly hard to walk the Christian life.  I beg you today to listen to His small voice amid the roar of the urgent and respond to it be putting Him on the throne of your life.  You may have to unseat yourself from the throne, but you don’t belong there anyway.  Remember Jesus’ words “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matt. 20:16)  and “…whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt. 16:25)  and still later John says, “He must become greater: I must become less.” (John 3:30)

To accept His forgiveness is to accept His Lordship.  It is a perfect system with imperfect parts.  “Super-size” God in your life today and watch the worry, stress and emptiness “down-size”.  Pray for each other.