Yesterday during Sabbath School, Pastor Reed’s friend gave a short testimony and said something that struck me so much that I actually whipped out my pen and jotted it down in my lesson booklet. He said something to the effect of, “we need to arrange our day around the Lord.” What a powerful and pointed statement. I’ve read in the Bible where the disciples would be looking for Jesus early in the morning and find Him praying. I’ve read book by and about different pastors, not all SDA, and all of them spoke of the importance of communing with the Lord early in your day. Now this man was not talking about seeking the Lord at a specific time of day but rather how important it is that we schedule our whole day around the Lord, the Creator, the entire reason for our existence, and the only hope we have! I mentioned about those who seek the Lord early in the day because personally I know that if I don’t specifically set aside time early, almost immediately after I get up, that I will “promise” to take time later in the day to spend with the Lord but I will end up forgetting or being too busy.
We all have busy lives. Some of us feed livestock, some of us have small children, some of us need to vacuum before their spouse comes home and needs to go to bed. All these things are legitimate needs (well… maybe vacuuming is only somewhat necessary!). However, nothing, NOTHING should usurp the place that God SHOULD hold in our lives otherwise have we not overstepped ourselves on the first commandment? Our God loves us and has given us all everything that we have, not just material things but He has provided the way for us to develop our talents both to use for our secular jobs and for the expanding of His kingdom. “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth…” (Deuteronomy 8:18). God has even given us His Son that through Him we may inherit eternal life. We should not need to keep the first commandment out of an obligation but rather we should want to keep it out of gratitude.
Gratitude is something we should all be thinking about later this week. It is a time we can use to reflect on the blessings we have in our lives and how much we have with which we can bless others. In the Bible, the Lord asked that the people give thank offerings in addition to sin offerings. When I buy gifts for my family and friends for birthdays or Christmas I’ve also started considering giving a gift to the church as a thank offering to the Lord for all He has done for me and how he has blessed me. We all give on a normal basis to the church, tithes, offerings to help cover church expenses, offerings to help with special church projects, but do we ever give to the church with the express attitude of giving thanks? I’m not saying this to guilt anyone into anything. My goal is to draw your attention, especially this week and in the weeks throughout December, to think about how you express thanks to the Lord. Personally, I lack in this area. My attitude often needs adjusting in order to include the word gratitude!
In a daily devotional book I’m reading, one of the authors spoke about a hard time in her life when her child (who was about 12 I think) had some serious medical problems. She started keeping a blessing journal in which each day she would sit and think about any blessings she had that day. Some days you need to purposefully look for those blessings but they indeed are there. One of her blessings was that even in the midst of her ordeal she was able to help out someone else. Jesus knew what He was talking about when He said, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). When you lose yourself in the Lord, and your focus is outside of yourself, then you have little time or desire to have the “poor me” syndrome. It isn’t easy picking up that cross of self-denial. And that’s what I’m calling it when you choose to be positive instead of looking at the negative. Maybe for some people that positive attitude comes naturally but for me it never has even as a child I leaned toward the negative.
I encourge you friends to take time today, this week, all the days forthcoming, to not just set aside time for God but to arrange your day around Him. He is there for you both in times of need and times of plenty. And then give thanks to Him. “He only is my rock and my salvation…” (Psalm 62:2). May you have a blessed week and a Happy Thanksgiving!