Moments
Psalms 84:1 A Korah psalm. What a beautiful home, GOD of the Angel Armies! I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
:2 Always dreamed of a room in your house, where I could sing for joy to God-alive!
How long does it take? That’s always the deciding factor. So much wants to be accomplished and there is so very little time to do it all. Skills want to be learned; relationships need to be developed; jobs must be given their diligent service; and leisure time must be captured for needed recovery from the pressures of it all. If there is a birthday, a great portion of days will be devoted to the necessities of getting presents, planning parties, and honoring the birthday person with a set-aside period of time. Quite often within a week there will be many hours given to the entertainment and pleasure of movies and television programs as the appetites of the flesh demand and get their gratification. Not only will there be a great deal of time devoted to some of these activities, but often there will be a great deal of expense gladly given so that this expenditure of time may be done ‘right’. (And this portion of our wealth again represents an allotment of time we’ve been given on this earth to earn it.) It all takes time, and the areas in our life where we have placed the greatest value and the most passion will be those areas that get the largest portion of our breathing moments. And, where we’ve chosen to commit our time will be directly related to what is produced in our lives. The passions that get the allotment of our time are the ones that will have the chance of producing- whatever their value or lack thereof in our lives.
“What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” (Mat. 26:40) Certain things will keep us up all night if it’s just hanging out with friends or putting in the necessary commitment of time for a deadline on a test or work project. If there is enough value in a relationship or project, attention will be given to that which is seen to be worth it, while the moment something is devalued in the least there is a gasping yawn and diverted glance to something else that might bring more entertainment value or significance.
It is true that in Christ we have become the temple of God, His very dwelling place, but there is something that is very real in the structure of God’s dwelling- it is committed and given completely to the purpose of His kingdom, His church. While it may be rightfully contended that we carry His presence with us wherever we go and are therefore continually committed in our time to ‘kingdom business’, it would also rightfully seem that where His presence is continually sensed, His heart will be an ever present motivation. Where a heart is truly given to the assumably ‘higher’ value of a heavenly relationship, one might expect a reciprocal allotment of time to something of such high and eternal value. If it could be compared with every other responsibility and devotion in life, there might be an assumption that on the graph of the allotted time in a ‘believer’s’ life one of the higher bars would have something to do with what should be a part of their belief- furthering the kingdom of their Lord by commitment to His body, his church.
If an alien force were to come to earth to determine who our God is, how might they make this calculation? It would have to have something to do with how our time is spent throughout the week, where our hearts have driven our time commitments. For many it might be very difficult to determine by the tiny little obligation given to some local congregation that there is even the smallest devotion to the cause of their god (small cap intended). Quite often the alien investigators would find that our decision to arrive at a scheduled service would have more to do with whatever else might happen to be taking place in our life, whether or not it was seen as more ‘important’ or ‘necessary’. The way the Almighty God and his body is shoved aside for a social event, needed domestic renovations, or family commitments might quickly exclude Him as a relevant part of the life that has been purchased by His Son’s blood. It would surely be discovered that much more time is often given to just waiting at stop lights than waiting in God’s presence. (Maybe those colored lights are somehow worshiped by these strange earth dwelling creatures.) If there was something to be accomplished in that local church body, if there was any needed time allotment that might make possible its success, there would often be little evidence of this in the time invested by those occasionally attending.
Many are looking for miracles and supernatural demonstrations to verify that there is even a God. They actually need to look no further than many local churches. Where Jesus was able to feed the thousands with just a few fish and a loaf of bread, many congregations are somehow being sustained and nourished by the small time commitment of just a few faithful servants. Even if it were a few hours a week, the magnitude of the project, the scope of the undertaking would seem to require so much more, and yet God is able to make so very much out of so very little. How much more and how precious the results might come from each one that somehow gets past personal offense and diverted passions and distractions to find that it is better to spend one day, one hour, one minute, and even one second in the service of God than a whole life of time given to all those other things that presently have prominence on the graph of our priorities. It’s really not a sacrifice or loss in any way when a moment of time is given in faithfulness. It is the gaining of eternal fulfillment and life’s purpose in a value that has no comparison.
Psa 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
