That’s a Lot of Work!

The book held me spellbound. I could hardly wait to get to the next chapter to see what would happen. As I laid the book down, I thought, “I sure would love to write like that.” But when I thought about the hours and hours of study, writing, and rewriting that would go into such a project, I wasn’t so sure how much I really wished for such a success. That’s a lot of work!

When we see a truly lovely Christian, one who is filled with the joy of the Lord, who is filled with the Spirit, we often long to be that way, too. But are we willing to invest that much time with God, the study of His Word, and praying without ceasing, or do we just want it to fall into our laps without any effort on our part. Well, that’s just not going to happen. Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” What does it mean to seek Him? When I played hide-and-go-seek as a child, I kept looking and searching until I found what I was looking for. Unfortunately, when it comes to spiritual matters, we want to say a quick little prayer when we feel like it, without taking the time to seek Him, and then we want to reap huge blessings. You can pray short little prayers for help and, God, in His great mercy, may even answer you. But to truly live a victorious, Spirit-filled life, full of abundant blessings, you must seek Him always and never stop. Because even when you have found what you are looking for in God, there is so much more to still be found. The searching will last a lifetime.

It is the same with children who grow up in a peaceful, loving environment and they see the loving relationship between their parents. They may think, “I can’t wait to get married and have the kind of marriage my parents have.” They may be under the false assumption that it will just fall into their laps. However, unless they seek God for guidance the way their parents did and unless they work at making their marriage successful by following Godly principles just as their parents did, they will be sadly disappointed. Happily-married couples have worked toward not being rude, self-seeking, or easily angered. They try not to keep a record of wrongs. Unfortunately, this is so contrary to what society expects a happy marriage to be. They love the sweet words, the cuddles and kisses, the secret looks between lovers, but are not willing to make the sacrifice of giving up their selfish nature and following God’s principles for love in 1 Corinthians 13 in order to maintain such a love.

To have a truly blessed life, we must be willing to invest all of our time and energy to draw close to God. It is only the life truly surrendered to Him that will know the deep satisfaction and contentment of serving Him and being blessed by Him. Jesus said in John 7:37 “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” We do not need to remain thirsty. Jesus promised to quench our thirst, but we must make the effort to come to Him and drink.

Tags: Women, Religion, Devotional, Marriage