It's so easy for me to get caught up in the immediate present. When there is a demand, I must do it then and there, and I do not think about what is really important. The result is that I find myself going at top speed through life when all I really want to do is sit back and enjoy what God has given me.
I mean, think about it: Who today has the time to sit and watch the sun set? Who goes for walks in search of wild flowers? Who gets down on their hands and knees to examine a frog? I mean, besides me? People today just "don't have the time." Should we, as Christians, have the same outlook on life? The straight answer: No.
There are several reasons why I think people today take life at so fast a pace. First, they're afraid of death. Death is fearful to them, because after they die everything stops. They won't exist anymore. So they have to pack everything into their lives right now so that when they die they can look back and say that they lived a good, full life. Second, they don't want to think about the big questions, like where they're going after they die. Or how futile their life is. How empty they feel. It's a lot easier filling one's mind with the daily routine, what one must do next. No one wants to sit and think because they're afraid of where their thoughts will lead. It's understandable when you remember how empty their lives really are. They have no hope as we do. Their lives consist only of despair.
Why are Christians tempted to live the same way? This is a bit harder to answer. Why do we live like this? I am guilty of this, probably more so than a lot of people. Sometimes even I do not understand why I live this way. There really is no reason to fill myself up on empty promises and success, but that does not keep me from doing it. In the end I just find myself missing the things that matter, and feeling discontent with the empty, fast-paced life I've set up for myself. I do not think we need to spend too much time wondering why we do it. The world sells it's products well. What we need to spend time doing is fixing it - fixing our minds to remember that our time on this earth should be spent in such a way that glorifies God and not ourselves; in such a way that puts what is important - the study of His Word, our relationship with others, etc. - first, and let everything else follow. Our work should not be the highest priority for us. His work must. We must live everyday with the question, "Does this glorify God?" forever in our minds.
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