One Thing I Desire

"One thing I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after..." Ps. 27:4

There are so many things today vying for our time and energy. Things that are not necessarily bad or evil, yet they are disruptive or distractions from the ONE most important thing. God desires a relationship with you and I. He wants to be THE priority in our life not an addition or an afterthought.

In my life I have a few hobbies, I always have. These hobbies are things I enjoy doing between my work day, household chores, prayer time, church attendance, personal devotion time, and teaching. Right now I have two in particular that are on-going; restoration of a 1968 Chevy El Camino and reading various novels on my Kindle (e-books). I love to read.

Lately I've noticed a shift in the amount of time, energy and money spent on these hobbies of mine. It came about subtly and gradually and had I not been nudged by the Holy Spirit's prompting (He had to nudge me pretty hard) I could have missed it's significance all together. Are these hobbies of mine bad? No way not at all, they are things I do to relax, things that I enjoy that help break up the monotony of everyday life. "Than what's the problem?" you might ask. Well this is what I've noticed:

I don't miss a day of work. My creditors won't allow it, my bills must be paid, the family needs to be fed as do our cars, in fact I work as much overtime as I can to make the ends meet - can I get an amen.

I take care of my household chores and repairs (although my wife says not nearly fast enough). If I didn't the grass would grow into a jungle, the weeds would kill off all the plants and the paint on the house would peel off. My neighbors would be complaining and the city would give me a fix-it ticket and I'd have to eventually get to it all anyway. By the way, who owns whom?

I go to church regularly (almost always). It's something I really enjoy, more so in the last five months. I want to worship God, I want to hear God's Word, I want to fellowship with other believers. I don't want to deal with my conscience telling me that I should be at church not home in bed sleeping. And I don't want to get the phone calls from those well meaning brothers and sisters asking if "everything's o.k." If I'm sick or If I need prayer, and "Oh and by the way, why weren't you in church today?" No, I'm there because I want to be there.

So what I've noticed is this:
The areas that are getting robbed of time - the areas that are being robbed of my energies - the extra time that I'm using for my hobbies, these areas for me and maybe for you too are the ones that give us the least amount of pain or cost us less if we neglect them (at least it seems that way on the surface). We all know and understand that there's only 24 hour in each day and if I'm investing more time in some areas than I should be, than other areas are suffering.

So I found myself praying less. Talking to and hearing from God are vitally important in my life, but because He doesn't slap me up-side the head It's easy to "forget" to pray, or "run out of time", or just be "too tired" and neglect this important aspect of my Christian walk. Eventually we will feel the results.

I also noticed I was spending less time in God's Word. Oh sure I read and studied and prepared for the weekly Bible Study I teach, but my personal devotion time was suffering. I wasn't hearing from the Lord because I wasn't taking the time to listen to Him. Jesus deserves my attention, He deserves my devotion and my time, I had to stop letting other things of less importance get in the way.

God doesn't mind that we have hobbies and interests besides Him. He doesn't mind that we involve ourselves in activities that are fun and relaxing or exciting and exhilarating, whatever they may be for you. But, He does mind that we allow those things to rob us of our opportunities to get to know Him better, to have a personal living relationship with Him.

Why don't you stop right now and listen for His voice. See if He's trying to get your attention, trying to invite you into a deeper more personal relationship with Him. He loves you and wants to give you a heads up - to help you see the distractions that you are allowing to get in the way of the great things he wants to do in and through you. What are your priorities today and where does God fit into them?

"One thing I desire of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord, and inquire in His temple." Ps. 27:4

God Bless and Press On
Larry