Distractions

Well, once again it's been a while. I would have to write for about an hour every day if I wanted to include everything that God was doing in my life. Of course, that's not exactly practical for me, since I've got two other writing projects that demand my attention, not to mention an almost-five-month-old baby girl that needs plenty of cuddling and tickling.

It's interesting to me how easy it is to forget that we are living for God. Or at least, that we are supposed to be, and have said that we want to. With so many distractions in our world today, it's almost impossible to remember that all of these things that surround us and demand our attention aren't really all that important in the long run.

I think it's important to keep our eyes trained on the big picture, and to keep our hearts focused on our goal - living a life that is pleasing to God, and that honors the sacrifice that Christ made for us.

But how do we stay focused in a world like ours? It's something I really struggle with, because even though I want to live for Christ, I find myself being absorbed in all kinds of mundane things throughout the day that don't reflect my gratitude to God at all. I think that focusing our hearts on God is a discipline that takes a lot of effort and practice to become good at. I often feel like it should just happen overnight, and this thinking has discouraged me over and over again, because no matter how determined I am, I always lose sight of my goal again before too long. But the Bible does say that we are supposed to run after the things of God, and to strive for them. Now that I think about it, that doesn't sound effortless or "overnight" at all.

And the real truth of the matter is, no matter how hard we try to live for God, it is something that we ourselves cannot attain without His help. Loving people, for example, with the love of Christ, isn't something that is humanly possible. If it were, it wouldn't be the love of Christ. It would merely be human love, which is imperfect and often performance-based. The love of Christ is perfect, constant, unconditional love, and only God Himself can give you the power to love people in such a way.

So I think the answer, in the end, is prayer. Prayer for more love. Prayer for more discipline. Prayer for more God.