"Listen to Him!" The exclamation point indicates a most critical, passionate order from the most powerful authority in the universe. It reminds me of the voice booming out of the heavens when Jesus and his closest friends were on the mountain. "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him!" What does that mean? I think we should listen to Him like He is our Father-the perfect Father that inspires us to participate in a loving relationship with Him, all by His provision of grace. A side note from my own little noggin: who knows who heard God's voice when He spoke from the heavens those times mentioned in the bible. It is written down for us to understand the local effect only. I want to imagine that there is no limiting God. When He touches someone, there is a ripple effect. Tribes deep in African forests may have heard His voice in their own language. He knows how to reach His people. So many voices and noises flood my head these days. So many duties competing for my devotion. One of the devil's ploys is to divert your attention to another focal point besides Jesus. Jesus says to keep your eyes fixed on Him. The snake continually tries to distract you with noise. I think we forget that God is our true Father and He invites us into sonship-as His child. Maybe since He's out of sight, He's out of our mind. May we remember the Matrix, where the spirit world is the actual real world. This place is but a finite, deteriorating heap of rubble that is passing away like a vapor. We've been adopted onto the winning team. Maybe it's time we start acting like it.
I can't think of a busier time in America. It's the land of the plenty and our schedules reflect it. We go full tilt every day and even have medications to help keep us sane and balanced so we can continue meeting the demands. We seem content to always be willing to add something to the schedule, but no one is ready to cut anything out permanently---except...time with God. The "big squeeze" is happening in us and around us. The world is squeezing out the concept of spending time alone with God. Even evangelical Christians are succombing to this pressure. C.S. Lewis has a quote, forever etched in my mind: "our greatest opposition to our devotion to Christ is our service to Christ". We know how to play the church game and we know how to expend our energies doing these services. Do we carve out regular time to be quiet and alone with God? Let the Spirit shine His light of truth in you about this. What does He want more than anything in the world? He wants His people to seek Him, to respond by spending time with Him. The benefits are out of this world.
It will require more and more great men and women of courage and dedication to pull this off in the future. It is not popular with the world right now to take time to pray, read your bible, or just be still in the silence. Maybe a little motivation will help. Do you want to please the world or man? or do you want to please the Lord? Which is more important? Do you really believe that taking time with God will actually help you in all of your situations when all of your situations are demanding your attention all of the time? May we truly live lives that depend on His Spirit to help us in all of our circles. It's the Matrix all over again. We invite His Spirit world to interact with our physical earth. This is where your faith meets the road, so to speak. You really live as if He is with you. You really believe He is active and has a purpose that is good for your life. You stay in touch with the truth that He is crazy in love with you and everyone else and are ready to interact with people in light of that fact. We just celebrated our country's independence day, and for that I am grateful. Spiritually, I encourage you to practice your complete dependence on the Lord to truly have life to the full and have real freedom. Let freedom ring!
