What is Your Why?

What is Your Why?

It really took a lot of small things that added up to make me look at why I am doing this or that. 

Why do I get up so early? I could easily sleep longer and read my Bible later. I could read at lunch could read when I had time in the evening. There's too many 'could's' used there.  This time with Jesus is and should be intentional. 

Was interesting in yesterday's sermon that in the book of Mark it's mentioned of Jesus getting up early to go be by Himself with His Father.  I am in good company. 

Why read so much? Why consider the things read?  Why not?  

We can choose what goes into our mouth, we also choose what goes into our mind and heart.  It's either good things in with good things coming out or garbage in garbage out. 

We indeed, as both our Saturday night Bible study saw and again on Sunday Morning saw, choose.  We choose to follow in obedience or we don't. 

My hardest part right now isn't the Bible reading, isn't the devotional reading. It's not the being open and honest with God part.  In Christ we are indeed soldiers of the cross.  Soldiers sometimes get wounded in battle. My hardest part is staying in bed while the battle goes on because of old wounds that aren't healed yet.  I am learning how to do life all over again. 

Life in Columbus was life in a dry and weary land.  Quite honestly that's our take on it. That's how it was received at least by us.  Relationships were extremely hard to establish.  You learned to be on your guard most all the time.  We went from church to church down there.  It was brutal. 

When we came up here it was in mixed anxiety and anxiousness. We were thinking we were beyond ready to leave the area.  We had to pack and load everything entirely on our own.  What few friends we did have at the time couldn't help much because of very valid reasons. 

It was one heavy decision after another in what to keep and what to get rid of.  Emotions were attached to many things. We easily donated over half our possessions to thrift stores or bulk pickup.  We still had a lot to move.  We, thanks to our realtor here, obtained a storage unit.  On one trip we had added anxiety concerning the rented trailer. We found ourselves just crying out to God.  

It's in thing's like this that you cling to what matters. You learn to hold onto what is your rock to you.  For some their rock is their strength or intelligence. Their history of things they've done.  I cried out to my Rock, who is Jesus. When the storms of life come, you find who yours is.

I am still searching, still asking, what it is that God's wanting me to be doing here in our new hometown.  I don't want to be found not doing it when He returns. I don't want to waste time doing things that are meant for someone else in the faith should be doing.  That way leads to discouragement and burnout. Romans 12 reiterates the need to be doing what we were gifted to be doing. Which is in and of itself another why.  

We who are in Christ were gifted by the Spirit with something special. Something that the Spirit has enabled us to be doing. This is in addition to the work of the Spirit in growing us in Christ Jesus. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that He has prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. 

We have a job to do after coming to Christ. As it says in Romans 12...we are part of the body...each part has its own purpose. 

That too is a why.

We can and do make up excuses to put off reading our Bible, put off fervent and honest prayer time. Put off serving. Put off obeying when it's been made clear from God what it is we are to be doing. Excuses abound.  We waste money on ourselves and wonder why we aren't happy. We waste it on buying things to collect that mean nothing in light of eternity. We waste time in fictional worlds. Waste time in life convinced we are ok when we aren't because the Word and work of God is neglected. We may even try to be self-inflicted martyrs. We want people to see our misery and don't want to be lifted out of the muck we are in. It's just too comfortable. The wasted hours in front of a television or movie screen. Wasted hours doing things that do nothing to draw us closer to our Savior.  Satan's invested countless hours in developing the excuses we use every day. 

Look at your day today. Your challenge is to look back on this day. Do it again every day this week. Including Saturday and Sunday. Look at why you are doing what you did each day.  Did you make the best use of your time, your energy in your walk with Jesus?   Are you spending any significant time with Jesus? Are you making yourself busy so that you don't? Some people will do that in order to not feel guilty over not obeying.  

You need to find your why. If your why isn't pointing you or someone else to the feet of Jesus then maybe your why isn't as it should be.  I want to be on my feet spiritually. I want to be found doing what it is God's designed me to be doing.  I want those who's paths in life that have crossed mine to find salvation in Christ Jesus. My current and former coworkers are always on my mind.  God brought our paths together for a season for a reason. People are who gets into Heaven. Not our possessions.  Satan wants nobody to get into Heaven.  

We will either embrace distractions that take us away from the work of God in our lives or we will shun them.  We won't do both. 

Look at how you spend your time, your energy and money.  Look at your possessions. Look at why you do what you do.  You are either living the life God has in mind for you or you are living your life for you.  There's only obedient or disobedient Children of God who have been saved in Christ Jesus.  Those who haven't come to Christ for salvation are all disobedient. As the Bible says every man does what is right in their own mind.  

I hope my soul is healed soon.  I hope that my spirit gets back on its feet again soon.  I am a doer and to not be doing what God designed for me to be doing is hard for me.  My prayers, I honestly hope stay the way they are.  To be boldly honest and open between myself and my God.  To be as truthful as I know how to be between myself and my Savior.  What about you? Where is your prayer life? What are you doing for Christ? Why do you spend your time, energy and money doing, thinking, and being how you are?  The saying goes that there are none so blind as those who do not, who refuse, to see.  Your excuses will blind you to why you do what you do.