When you look at your everyday life, what do you see? Is it full of turmoil, fear, anger, and harsh judging of self and others? Or is it full of peace, contentment, love, hope and grace? I think the question to ponder is, “are our minds occupied with God? What do you dwell on as you go through your day? Is your day full of busyness, running from one thing to another or do you have a chance to sit down and relax with God? When was the last time you just rested? I don’t mean sleep or sitting in front of the television to let your mind sit idly by. I mean do you ever go to a place were you can meet with God alone. Psalm 23:1-3 says, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”(KJV)
Is that who God is to you? One who gives you rest and peace so you will be able to do His work when called upon? Or is He one who keeps pushing you to do more and more, to work yourself to death, to stay so busy that you feel like your life is falling apart. Now I am not condoning laziness, because God wants us to be a people who work hard, but He also wants us to rest in Him. We may have a tendency to work hard but only so we can feel good about ourselves, or to stay busy to escape from issues in our lives that we desire to avoid. We do the same thing in relationships; we can use extreme busyness to avoid deeper, meaningful connections with others, then we justify our busyness, as something needed. Then we feel lonely again, so we run back to the busyness, because our lives have become an empty void of real lasting friendships. It becomes an endless cycle of loneliness to busyness, which only keeps us isolated from God and others. What I am saying is that we need a well ordered life, one of hard work and one of pleasant rest. On the other hand we may work hard at our secular jobs and put off the work of the Spirit. Saying, “I work hard at work, now this is my time.” Or is it? Do we believe that it is the work of the church paid staff to do what needs to be accomplished for the Kingdom? Do you ever find yourself complaining about the church and what it isn’t doing, or what is doing wrong? We separate ourselves from the church and look to others to satisfy our needs and the needs of the body of Christ. We become like a sponge only to soak in but not to replenish others, which contradicts Scripture, which calls every believer a holy priesthood. Or you could do what I did. Staying busy studying, reading books on God, and serving in the church, I was busy working for God but had no relationship with Him. My so-called relationship with Him was dead and lifeless. A well ordered life is the key. We must learn, live and rest in Him, not apart from Him. Not to compartmentalize our lives and keep God over here and our lives in another area. God doesn’t live in a box and we can’t put Him in one.
So where do you live at today? A busybody with no time for God, busy at work, but the rest of your time is your own, or working hard for God and missing out on an active relationship with Him? Or are you a person whose mind is occupied with God? Psalms 139:17-18 states “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.”
Having a mind that is occupied with God is a hard one, but not impossible. It is like anything else we do, we need to practice it. We must train ourselves in allowing our minds to be occupied with other things. We need to meditate on God’s Word and begin to train our ears[1] to hear His still small voice.[2] If we know how to worry, obsess and continually to roll things over our minds,[3] which I am sure most of us know how to do very well. If you are like that then you already know how to meditate. Then all we need to do is change the focus, and that focus is on God, and away from our anxieties. I know it sounds like that it is easy but we all know it is not. I am not saying that it is easy, it isn’t for me. It is a daily battle for the thoughts of our mind.[4] That is where Satan begins his assaults in the fight for our soul. We need to focus our minds on the Creator, Savior, and Lord, and to give Him pretence in all of our lives. If the mind is mastered, than the body, then our emotions and actions will follow in time. We must make a daily choice and sometimes minute by minute choices to control our thoughts.[5] We need to remember it is like any other cross we carry in which we need God’s help, grace, mercy, and power to carry it. Even though sometimes we have a streak of self-sufficiency we must let it go. We can’t let pride; self-sufficiency or anything else come in to distract us from God’s desire for us. Christ doesn’t expect us to do it on our own, because we can’t.[6] Augustine said, “Whoever does what the law commands without the help of divine grace, does it because he fears punishment and not from love for what is right.”[i] So when we think we have to do it on our own then its time to check your motives and ask God to search our heart.[7] The enemy will do whatever it takes to distract us from this and keep our mind off of God.[8] He will tell you that you don’t deserve God’s attention after all you have done. He is right, we don’t deserve God’s attention after what we have done.[9] I don’t, you don’t and the people around you don’t. But the wonderful news is that Christ paid for our sins on His Cross so we could be restored to a right relationship with the Father.[10] I don’t say that we don’t deserve God’s attention to shame you but to open your eyes to God’s full mercy, grace and love for you. The blood of Jesus Christ atones for our sins and we can now approach the throne of grace boldly because of Jesus sacrifice on the Cross.[11] So remember that when you need help accepting, lifting and carrying the cross of and a renewed mind.[12] He understands the temptations, struggles and our desires to compromise what we must fight against.[13] We are told by the world to only do it “if it feels good.” When discomfort, pain or misery comes into play then drop it, divorce them, or remove yourself from it. Look for pleasure, happiness and satisfaction in other things, no matter what. When we do that we are running to a lesser joy. For the true pleasure and joys are found in God alone.[14] Not in running from our difficulties and looking to physical pleasure of the flesh, but occupying our mind and soul with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
[1] Isaiah 28:23, Joshua 1:8
[2] 1 Kings 19:11-12
[3] Matthew 10:31
[4] Mark 8:33, Romans 8:6-7, Philippians 1:27
[5] Romans 7:25
[6] Philippians 4:13
[7] Psalms 139
[8] 1 Peter 5:8
[9] Romans 3:23
[10] 2 Corinthians 5:18
[11] Hebrews 4:16
[12] Romans 12:2
[13] Hebrews 14:5
[14] 1 Samuel 2:1, Psalm 5:11, Psalm 70:4, John 16:22
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