Thursday, January 7, 2016

2 Timothy 2:15 January 7, 2015

2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of Truth.

We take our careers seriously.

We plan for our professional careers from the time we can begin to put our aspirations into words. We map out our educational goals fueled by the intent to obtain our goals. We spend years in educational institutions preparing for our future learning processes, procedures, new ideas and the history of our world. We devote much of our lives to preparing for our chosen path.

And once we get there, we work just as hard or harder to climb the proverbial ladder within. We work long hours, missing family and vacation time while trying to position ourselves to be successful. We watch mentors closely and emulate their patterns hoping to find the right combination that will propel us forward. Time off work is spent plotting and planning work. All justified by the notion that it will all work out in the end with bonuses, advancements and accolades.

And then we reach our "sweet spot". That place where we know we are in the zone. We've worked hard and it is beginning to pay off. This is what we have dedicated our lives to. The hours and work are still seemingly just as rigorous but the confidence in each moment and interaction exudes from ourselves. We can do this and do it well. Pride and the assurance of a job that started when we were young had been obtained and obtained well. Our dogged determination to make this happen has been successful. We have arrived.
Can you imagine what our spiritual life would be if we put that much emphasis on our relationship with Christ? Where would we be if we had that much dogged determination to place towards our faith? What would it look like if our spiritual journey would be just as intense as our professional journey?

Instead of a seemingly afterthought?

What if we were asking our children at the dinner table what they planned on doing with their faith as often as we asked what they want to be when they grow up? What if we asked them what God was doing in their lives today as often as we asked them how their extracurriculars were going? What would our world look like if the mentors that we searched for and emulated were true men and women of faith?

We've been lulled into searching for the worldly dream first and foremost. Faith seems to come later either after our dreams have been realized or we've stepped off the driven path. We tend to live worldly focused with just the right smattering of faith. Not too little but not too much. Enough that we can say we are but not enough to truly experience the freedom that we were meant to feel.

As long as we search for the world first, we will always see first through the lens of this world. We will. We will find ourselves forever trying to find peace that will never be. We can be successful, absolutely, but God is to be first. We answer to Him first. Too often we try to straddle the line and work both side of the fence but it doesn't work that way. Oh, satan will try to assure us that we can have it all but he will be the first to drop us down the deepest pit.
Work towards faith so that we are strong in Whom and what we believe. So that when the storms come, and they will, we will not be swayed by the winds but rather welcome the strength that comes from within a faith that is well-grounded.

Live different.

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