Saturday, January 29, 2005

Spiritual Snooze Alarms

It's amazing how easily we can get sidetracked by the trials of life. Whether it's a major crisis in our lives, or the annoying headache, the 5:30 traffic, and the unchangable fact that we're late to a meeting...again. Eternity is so real, God's love is so concrete, and yet...the moment is so consuming. James 4:14 reads, "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." Shouldn't our minds be focused on the long term? The 401K is great, investing in the stock market isn't a bad idea...but when all those foundations crumble, what will be left? God and people. That's it. Where's your attention today? Are you more frustrated about your slow internet connection than you are about the fact that your next door neighbor is lost without a Savior?

Remember the disciples at the Mount of Olives right before Jesus' crucifixion? Christ asked them to pray, but moments later, they were fast asleep. We may think we're wide awake...but if our main concern is for the temporary things of this life, aren't we potentially out cold...in a spiritual sense? 1 Thessalonians 5:6 reminds us to stay alert: "So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. " We live in a spiritual world, and we have an enemy who longs to divert out attention from what really matters...even if it's as small as a headache.

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