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I had a friend ask me this weekend why it is easier for him to read about serial killers (which is a hobby of his) than to read his Bible. I could tell he felt guilty about it, and I am not sure he realizes how many people are in the same boat as he. Not that they read about serial killers, necessarily, but that they make time for other things but not reading their Bible. Or they read it but feel dissatisfied. Or fall asleep. The best answer I can come up with is that we simply aren't hungry for God. John Piper says: If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. I have surely seen this in my life. When I let the daily grind of life crowd out the Author of that very Life. When I am caught up in the day to day business of whatever: kids, school, housework, even church. I would never say that email is more important than God. Or laundry. Or movies or tv or reading about serial killers. And yet, these are the idols that can consume our days, a few minutes here, an hour there. And at the end of the day, we realize there is no room left for God, We have filled our days ("stuffed our souls") with the little things of this world, the things that cannot satisfy. So for 2008, I am praying that we will all do it differently. Don't let the moments slip away. Take captive every thought. Give God every moment. Yearn for Him. Don't be satisifed with the morsels this world has to offer; feast on Him. Piper (again) says this about prayer: That is what I want you to do every day, all year long, in 2008. Be a praying people. Convey your heart to God over and over. Let it be the way you begin and end everything. Pray before every email, every TV show, every car ride, ever phone call, every conversation, every shower, every night’s rest, every meal, everything you read. Convey your heart’s longings to God before and after everything you do. Let it be the way you breathe. Be in communion with God continually. My wife complains to me that when I finish a cell phone call, I don’t turn my phone off, and so she can hear me going about my business. I can see why that bothers her. But it is certain that it does not bother God if you never hang up. Just leave it on. |
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Posted by Anonymous
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