There's a message that continues to prey on my conscience, so I'll do my best to relate it here...
Today's society of men and women is mainly consumed by any of a multitude of possible preoccupations. Money, power, fame, lusts, position, possessions, sport, pleasure and passions are some of the larger of the endless count of possibilities, but the message preoccupying my mind currently is that there should only be one primary preoccupation with only righteous others falling in line behind. That one overriding preoccupation on anyone's mind should be without question The God who gave us life and the reason why is simple. When our time in this life is over, there will only be one occupation that will have mattered because real "life" is not yet over and our condition from that point on in eternity will be determined by the same God that gave us life for a purpose that belongs to Him alone.
"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:12-13 (NKJ)
If we're able to think about it clearly, those of us who are familiar with the word of God can quickly come to the same conclusion that I mentioned above. I say "clearly" because even we may find ourselves struggling with competing priorities if not on our guard. I think that for some of us that tendency may be preceded by a waning holy and righteous fear of God Most High. In my own opinion that's easy to do if we allow a common teaching today that "God is our friend" to become uncoupled with the truth of all that God is. He is our friend as we submit to Him completely, but I think that if we allow All Mighty God's omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence and perfect holiness to ever slip from our consciousness then we risk becoming a great offense to Him. If we truly believe and know Him, then we know better than to allow such a thing to become commonplace in our lives - ever. God may be our friend, but we are not in any way God's equal. If our prayers go unheard and/or we lack God's blessings and presence in our lives, a lack of righteous fear and reverent respect might be something to look for inwardly.
We're faced with so many distractions, deceptions and causes in life today that it's become ever so easy for us to get sideways in our walk with our God if we lose focus and let our minds stray from our God or His words to us. I myself after having walked in relationship with Him for many years find myself still in deep awe of His perfection. And in considering it find myself in awe also at His desire to know, let alone love, any of us - but He surely does. The proof was in the cost to Himself to know us in eternal relationship before we even chose Him.
"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ...
...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ...
...being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..." Romans 3:21-24 (NKJ)
Given the core deadliness of sin there are none of us, even those of us now hidden in Christ, who were not worthy of eternal damnation and death.
I think we need to remind ourselves of that reality from time to time, because if we do, I suspect that we may find it profitable in the refreshing of one's proper, reverent respect for God and His authority over us and also for the reestablishment of the flow of proper and holy gratitude and a heart of true worship of our Redeemer and Savior.
This is an exercise that I find useful in my own walk toward the finish line through the crowded, busy, noisy and disturbing throng of today's life and society in the world because it's an ultimate truth worth remembering above all of the noise. The distractions that surround us aren't by any accident, but by the intent design of the enemy of our God and of our own souls. I think we'll face even more potential distractions and disturbing things around us in the days to come. So reminding ourselves continually of the truth - including of our own past criminality toward God and His perfect mercy and grace in restoring us to right standing with Himself, is an absolute necessity to make more certain where the focus of our heart and mind stays firmly. For all of the length of time that we're the recipients of the promises of God and His perfect goodness toward us in spite of our past. Our focus and the delivery of our love and gratitude should be ever upward without fail. He's unchanging toward us, so our own diligence in concentrated effort toward Him should be unchanging also.
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