
Summer is drawing to a close and another autumn and winter will soon be among us. Time passes rapidly as we hurry about our ever quickening pace of life in a society bent on demanding more and more from each of us. Technological “progress” inundates us with calls, emails, texts, tweets and Facebook updates that all clamor for our attention. The noise of life has become deafening, driving many to frustration and despair. Those of us who are a little older long for the simpler times of our youth, while the younger generation knows little of peace and tranquility. Amidst all the chaos, the call of Christ remains the same and our responsibility to serve and follow Him does not change.
We have one life with which to honor Him; one life to use to further His mission on earth. Yet we are consumed by the distractions of the day, content to simply survive in the world where we find ourselves. Days and weeks fly by with little to no action being taken for Christ. Our jobs, families and social networks consume our lives and fill every nook of our time. When we take the occasional break to catch our breath, we wonder where the time has gone and resolve to make a change which is forgotten before the alarm clock sounds the following day.
Despite the harried pace we force upon ourselves, our lives lack a genuine sense of urgency. There is a great difference between what we deem important and what truly is. As followers of Jesus our sole responsibility is to love and glorify God by honoring Him with our service and obedience. We fail to live in His power because we do not live intentional lives of purpose. Instead we drift along, carried by the currents of our surroundings and society. Until we decide to purposefully choose to live our lives differently, to become the person He created us to be, we cannot consider ourselves to be a true follower of Jesus. When He is Lord of our lives, He is the only focus and reason that we live. Everything else pales and falls to the wayside. When He is truly Lord, we are not distracted by life but rather consumed by love.
We only have one life on earth. Each second ticks away another opportunity to serve Him. We waste our time worrying about what we will wear, what we will eat and where we will go. All of this is in direct rebellion to the teachings of Jesus who specifically told us not to worry about these things (Matthew 6:25-34). The enemy distracts us by shifting our focus away from our mission and onto ourselves. This life is not about me and it’s not about you. The only reason we are alive today is to demonstrate the love of God to others so that they might come to know and follow Jesus Christ. Jesus came to seek those who have lost their way (Luke 19:10), and we are his instruments of seeking. We are the hands and feet of Christ, the tools God uses to save the world. How is it we so easily and often determine that the trivial things in our own lives are more important than this truth?
We have one life, one chance; one opportunity to dance with the Creator of the universe and collaborate with Him to bring about His Kingdom on earth. How are you spending the time that He has entrusted to you? When your time is up, how will you account for the days of your life? The minutes are passing by along with the divine moments they contain. We must stop drifting aimlessly through life and seize the work He has given us to do. We only have one life; how will you spend yours?
Question: What most consumes your time and keeps you from focusing on Christ?