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I interrupt the normal posting schedule to present to you a faith-based post, in honor of Holy Week.
Faith-based posts are often inspired by the things I hear and read in my daily life.
What do you spend the most time doing every day? Probably something along the lines of staring at screens, hobbies, or chatting with friends.
But where does God fit into that picture?
What we spend the most time on show what our priorities are. Where our values lay. They give us hints into where we are basing our identity.
1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 (NIV): 16Rejoice always, 17pray continually, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
God wants us to have a relationship with Him. He wants us to spend time with Him. But so often, we are busy. We have a loveable glowing screen that we carry around with us that calls for our attention.
There was a reason the first two commandments are about putting God first.
Exodus 20: 1-4 (NIV): And God spoke all these words:
2“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3“You shall have no other gods before me.
4“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
And what happens when we do forget about God and put other things first?
Since nothing in this world is everlasting and full of love like God, it is like building a house on the sand; it all falls down in the end. Whenever the things we built our "self" on vanishes like the rest of the world, our sense of that "self" goes as well.
One example of this is Captain Jaggers in Kathryn L. Butler's The Dreamkeeper Saga. In the second book, the Somnium Realm is plagued with sickness, and Jaggers is just another victim. When his rotting ship crashes amongst thorns, the hopeless Jagger began his trek down the mountain to follow his ship's fate.
Matthew 7: 24-27 (NIV): 24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
But when we build our identity on God, we are building on the Rock. We are building on the safety and security from the chaotic waters. We are building on a God of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. And when we build on God, we reflect those values as well.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV): 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Recommended Resource: Timothy Keller's The Reason for God