Well friends; I've been blog quiet for a few days. Strange how life can pull you along at times, being full of this and that, hardly giving one time to pause and think beyond the immediate pressing need to consider other things.
In recent days my life has included caring for the grieving, the diseased, the sin-wearied, the worn out parent. I've had to comfort the repentant and confront the resistant.
Time had been needed to plan, to prepare for pastoral care, to study, to teach, to preach, to visit, to email, to phone call, to pray.
There has been need for me to be a parent, a grand-parent, a pastor and leader of pastors, a mediator, an organizer, a motivator, a witness.
I've had to fix screens, clean yards, build woodsheds, collect firewood, mend fences (on which big branches have fallen), be a husband.
Pipes have broken, cars have clunked.
I've even spent time (hopefully in ways pleasing to God and in no way trusting in self or money) financial planning (that's ironic in light of the recent posts and comments; by the way--while one may not agree with every conclusion others have drawn in these discussions, one can and should learn from the others and see the very important truth that each has brought to the table).
Please know why I share all of this. It is not so you will feel pity for me or marvel over how busy or full my life is. Why should you? Yours is full too!
My point is that life is full for all of us, and in the middle of it we have to commit to a couple of things:
1. We must commit to pursue only what is most needful, refusing to be caught up in matters that have no abiding relevance or worth. Folks, my biblical call and commitment for years has been to be in the constant pursuit of less; to be relentlessly in the hunt for simplicity. If we do so we will be able to keep our balance even when the pace picks up as it inevitably will.
2. We must make sure in the midst of all we need to do to do that which is most needful--be with God. Keep your focus. Practice the RMMR plan that we are aiming at in our care groups this year (see the TFC website for more on that). Read. Meditate. Memorize. Repeat. And do it all with one single passion: to know more of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Keep first things first.
3. Remember, only God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-competent. He alone can do all things; He alone knows all things; He alone has competence to get everything done that is on His task list. Neither you nor I is God. Rest easy when the list is longer at the end of the day than it was at the start. Only God gets everything done that He wants done. The rest of us do our best and then leave it with Him to cover for our deficiencies.
Just a few musings for us for what will probably be another busy day, musings that I hope will help us avoid finding our busyness turning to stress and distraction.
Go with God and know His grace.
Thanks Tim, for a clear reminder that men make plans (and we should) but God disposes the matter according to His will. I have found less stress in embracing Providence and owning it as Gods will for me, than an unmoving commitment to what I had planned for me. His plans for His elect are only good, alone perfectly what we need to be what He intended.Busy schedule, emergent crisis, disease, heartbreak, come what may, it is God's perfect classroom, to we, his students.
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JR
I wish that I could be the one who might say "Far be it from me Lord that I would distrust You, far be it from me that I would get distracted, far be it from me that I should let anything come between our meeting time and communion". That is not the case however. I relate very well to "prone to wander, Lord I feel it...". Other things seem so important as they are urgent, such as packing, making a list of phone calls, address changes, thinking and worrying, thinking and worrying;
ReplyDeleteI confess this freely, for I know that God is far greater than my biggest worries, and more than sufficient(understatement of the year)to care for all of my concerns. Thank you pastor for what we already know, to keep our eyes on Jesus, to keep our time with God, to "keep focused". More so, thank you for reminding us of what we all need to be reminded about. The Read, Meditate, Memorize, Repeat, (and Pray)process returns us again to hear and be calmed, by the sweet voice of our great God and Savior.
Back to packing...and singing His praises!
John and Tom,
ReplyDeleteBoth of you are examples of the very things of which we speak--John in your present peace while grieving your mom's passing, and in the measure of grace and peace you show as you receive real persecution from family members , and Tom in your bold and believing embrace of this move to follow the will of God!
While, like all the rest of us I'm sure you both have moments and days of distraction, it is clear that you both have been enabled to keep sharply focussed on what , rather, on The One Who matters most.
You are doing well in the classroom of life and stress and sorrow.
Thanks for the example you are to us all.
Tim
"Life reduced to fellowship with Jesus Christ makes the complicated simple."
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