Fighting for God

-by Micah-

One of my best friends shared a revelation with me recently. He told me about his new struggle in "fighting for a relationship with God". He explained it as, "removing distractions and allowing the Holy Spirit to be my motivation for the things I do day to day."

I thought about it, fighting for God, fighting for our time with God. It's a revelation we so badly need. Solomon says there is nothing new under the sun, and I believe it, but in today's "modern/technological" world I think it could be argued that there are more things than ever competing for our time.

Not that Old Testament Jews had it any easier, actually guess I could shoot down my aforementioned statement by considering the way people used to have to work the land for their dinner, while we just throw something in the microwave (well, some people do).

I'd be willing bet that if we told the Old Testament Jews of our 21st century conveniences and luxuries, they would assume us to have the surplus time to spend hours a day in Scripture and prayer, and even further hours in the care of widows and orphans. But quite the opposite has resulted. What exactly are we doing with all the time the microwave/cell phone/Internet/automobile have afforded us? We sure aren't breaking our backs like the Old Testament people did. We aren't digging wells for our water. We aren't spending every daylight hour for months building walls to protect our cities from invasion. We aren't even milking goats for milk anymore. But somehow we manage to say, "Wow, I've just been too busy this week to get into the Word...maybe on Sunday."

My friend mentioned "removing distractions" as a way of fighting for time with God. I think he is on to something. 'Cuz the stats show we are spending our time in three places (actually I have no idea what the stats show, I'm just making an educated guess here): at work, in the car, in front of the TV/computer. So, let's quit our jobs, sell our cars, and burn our TVs!!

Well, maybe not, but something along those lines is where our generation needs to head. Okay, forget the whole "our generation" cliche'. It's where WE need to head. How many cars do you own? No, seriously, that's not a rhetorical question; how many cars do you own? How many TVs? Cable or satellite subscription? How many hours per week are you working? If it's over 40-45 you may need to prioritize.

Am I being too judgmental? Too legalistic? Maybe I am; only God can judge the heart.

So yeah, we could cancel our cable TV service, give away a car, limit the number of movies and Friends episodes we watch each week. And guess what!?!? We could tell our bosses to take no more than 40hrs/week or we'll quit and find a job that actually respects us and our lives outside work! Sure you'll take a pay cut, but let's talk about priorities! Actually, priorities are another topic altogether.

We could do all those things, but in the end I'd just encourage you to add up where your time goes, and then pray about it. If you listen, He will tell you.