Many mornings I arise around 5:15 and head out the door about 30 minutes later for an appointment. A few days back, when I went out the door, my eyes were captivated by the brightness of a full moon. I stopped for a few moments and gazed at the moon and gave a few claps to the Lord before I drove away. Almost every time I see a full moon, I think of Psalm 8:3-4, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”
When I consider all that God has done and still does, I am overwhelmed that he is mindful of me. That means that God thinks about me all day long and other scripture passages declare that God does not sleep and He watches over me. Upon reflection, that attribute of God is meaningful to me because I am not like that. Without Christ, my life and mind drips with arrogance and I am not mindful of anyone but myself.
When Christ is having His way with my mind and actions, I am mindful of others. Some manifestations of that is I will write notes to people with blessings of scripture, I will tell my wife the wonderful words she deserves to hear, I will do things for my family without being asked, I will act on divine promptings of service, and I will empower others to do the good works in which they were created.
My daily battle is that I am not mindful of God like He is of me. And I definitely do not want to be like the people described in Ezekiel 23:35,”Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten me and thrust me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.” I do not want to be guilty of throwing Christ in the backseat and telling him, “I got this and I do not need you today.”
Upon further review, I have a good day when I have captured all my thoughts and actions ahead of time and made them obedient to Christ. Being mindful of God is such much better than being mindful of me. What or who is on your mind today?
Let’s play catch. It is your turn to throw.
What or who is on my mind today? Well, “skimming life” is what’s on my mind today. Too often I’m asked, “Are you skimming again?” Or, worse yet, accused of the act! I try not to skim books or magazines but admit to skimming E-mail and text messages. That’s where I get in trouble!
ReplyDeleteWe seem to sometimes live life at the speed of light so it’s no wonder we skim. If we skim life or E-mail messages, or things important, is that kind of like the milk we drink? Do we want the real thing, the whole milk, or do we settle for something much less – skimmed milk? That’s even less than 2%. Wow! Two percent or less and if I translate that to my life, I have to ask, am I skimming here too? Am I getting 2% or less? Maybe a better question would be, how much am I putting into life? The next meeting? The next sporting event (sorry Joey)? The next favorite TV program? The next political talk show with the most conservative slant - all temporal things. Maybe more importantly and of eternal value I should ask, am I putting in 2% or less? Into church? Relationships? Evangelism? Service? Worship? Hmmm, all rhetorical questions and all addressed to ME!
“Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God” must be more than just words and for me, they seem to be in need of a more permanent place in my heart and written in indelible ink as a mission statement. I started my Christian journey a little over 38 years ago and looking back, sometimes my ink seems a bit faded. Making sure I’m on the right path and headed in the right direction are always good places to be but I also know I need to put in more than just 2% and want the words “ justice, mercy and humility” to be permanent and clearly visible. So, when my content’s label says .99999999%, as it does at times, I must see what I need to do to bump it up. Realizing it’ll never say 100%, it’s sure gotta show more than just skim.
An early church writer made the statement in speaking for God/Jesus; “In whatsoever way I shall find you, I shall judge you.” Whether this statement is a true picture of salvation or not, I must live as if it was!
Backatcha