DID GOD FIT IN?
Ever get busy? My day starts about 5:30 most mornings regardless of
when I went to bed on the previous night. And then it all begins again. For
most, the start of the day would mean a cup of fresh roasted coffee and then
the morning shower/bath followed by some sort of breakfast (and more coffee).
And at some point we would finally be able to mobilize sufficiently to dress
ourselves and gather whatever materials would be needed for the start of our
day.
Arriving
at work we would have some routine we follow as well. Going to our desk,
starting some form of heavy equipment, beginning to make our phone calls,
prepping patients for some procedure, or maybe sorting the morning mail for
delivery on our route would be the norm. There is something we do almost every
day to begin our work, whatever our work may be. And as we do, if we are among
those who wish to do well, we find the energy to immerse ourselves deeply into
the task that somehow has found a way to define us. We are car salesmen, mail carriers,
truck drivers, corporate CEO’s, nurses, teachers, and preachers or maybe trash
collectors. We work hard for a living and our jobs fairly absorb our days.
At
the end of our day we close up. Tidy things up so that we can have a good start
on our next work day. Then we drive home. We may stop somewhere along the way
for coffee or a quick errand but essentially we head home. We make plans for
some sort of dinner. Maybe we call a friend or loved one. Maybe we just turn on
the television and open a can of soup. But in the absence of any lawn care or
other errands and without any other grand planning, we have dinner and retire
for the evening. A couple television shows, maybe the reading of a book follows
but we soon retire for the evening and prepare for another day.
Did
God fit in? Did we have a place to put Him? Some I am sure took a moment
between the first coffee and the shower to read for 5 minutes or so. Others may
have waited until their lunch break at work when they were a bit more alert and
shared a few minutes of their lunch time with Him. Dinner time at home works
best for many. There seems to be no real consensus on when or where to have a
devotional time. But my question is, “Did God fit in?” Did He fit in at all?
Isn’t
this part of what is wrong with the Church today? People want God to fit in.
They want to find a place to put Him where he will not interfere too much with
their daily routine. Many churches are ‘considerate’ of schedules and offer
religious services at times which are less conventional. In an attempt to make
church convenient. In other words, there is an effort to look religious even to
the point of self-deception. Jesus said in Matt 23:28, “Even so ye also
outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and
iniquity.” And he was talking to religious leaders of the day. They fully
believed they were true followers of God.
Paul
addressed a similar condition in his day. In 2Cor. 5:15, 17 Paul writes, “And that
he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again…. (v.17)Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new.” In verse 15 he did not say we
should fit God into our lives. He said that believers should not “live unto
themselves” but rather “unto him which died for them.” Our lives are not to be
about our lives. Yes, we need to provide food and shelter for our families. But
our lives should reflect the rebirth of our souls. Verse 17 says that everyone
who is truly born again “is a
new creature.” We do not live the same way anymore because “all things are
become new.” Our goals and objectives change. When we are saved we are said to
be “in Christ” meaning that he now lives in and through us, Eph. 2:10 “For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them.” If all of this is true then how
is it that so many simply try to fit God in? It raises the question of whether
or not they were simply religious and not born again.
A born again child of God does not fit God into his life.
His life becomes the possession of God. Romans 14:8 “For whether we live, we
live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live
therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.”
Today, did God fit in? Or
can you say that Christ lives in you?
