Futile Following

God's enemy, Satan, works continuously to block, obscure, mangle, and drown out the Gospel message. His only possible triumph in his cosmic struggle with God would be to stop as many humans as possible from coming to understand the true reality of God's holiness and their sinfulness, the need for a Savior and the gracious provision through Christ, and the simplicity of responding in faith to these truths.

Upon reading Jeremiah 17:9, I am stunned by one of Satan's most successful campaigns. The Bible says:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

Satan has countered this warning with:

"Follow your heart!"

You see, God and Satan both base their statements on the same truth: our spiritual hearts are the wellsprings of our sinful state just as our physical hearts pump blood to the whole body.

Therein lies the danger: see our heart pumps blood all over the body whether it's healthy, anemic, or even infected - the heart just continues pumping what it has to pump. If we want to improve the health of the body we need to purify the blood.

In the same way, our spiritual heart pumps whatever it has to pump, which in our natural state is sinfulness. Since the heart only knows to keep pumping, the adage "Follow your heart" seems as sensible as a doctor telling you: "let blood pump through your body!"

Until we exchange our blood for Christ's, the heart continues to pump its dark material, leaving us utterly lost in sin.

God and Satan both make a statement based on the function of our spiritual heart: whose statement are you going to follow?

Story Time

It is common, this time of year, for Christians to shift uncomfortably while they discuss the presence of Santa Claus, Rudolph, Frosty, and other seasonal myths in their home. Some Christians and denominations loathe and expunge the amiable characters, while others have gone to great lengths of defend their right to keep these myths around - and a whole slew of believers land somewhere in between. I'm not here to comment on who is right, but to pause on a Scripture that may just bear on this situation:

"And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel."     - Judges 2:10

The sad tone of this verse is only plunged deeper into sobriety by its context: it comes right after the end of Joshua, the book chronicling God delivering on all the oaths He made Israel concerning the Promised Land and their peace.

He has done everything for them, and they couldn't even bother to tell their children.

Did you catch that subtext in the verse? The first generation was gathered to their fathers, a euphemism used for a godly generation of Israel, it presumes that at least the majority of them are with the patriarchs in heaven. At a basic level, this implies that they had believed God's promises and worshipped His faithfulness. But then, the verse talks about the next generation - their children - not knowing about the LORD or what He had just done!

What would have been different if they had told their children the stories of God? Why didn't they share their eyewitness accounts of the Lord in action with their own children? What we see of this generation is that they do know the entire sacrificial system, the ins and outs of the temple, and every detail necessary to Israelite culture.

Perhaps, then, the danger is in what they talked about with their children.

In other words, do you talk about Santa as much as you talk about your own journey of sanctification? Do you sing about Rudolph with the same joy that you sing about your redemption? Do you find yourself wanting gifts as much as you want grace? Is Jesus the reason for the season but Frosty the reason it's exciting?

Are our cultural myths, lessons on manners, and education on cultural practices consuming all the time we had to talk about Christ, about salvation, about grace?

The Christmas myths aren't inherently bad, but they can be distracting. Particularly when we realize that our children will remember what we tell them stories about and that the Bible holds us responsible for what our children do and do not know.

When we are gathered to our Lord, what do we want to be said of our children?

Priorities

Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You cloth yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them in a bag with holes [...] You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.                                  - Haggai 1:5-6,9

God takes our priorities seriously.

So seriously that when we don't put Him first, and care about His kingdom first, He makes our efforts in life futile.

"Just let me make a good salary, God, and I'll give some of it to your church."
"Let me finish this video game level, and then I'll read my Bible."
"I'm too busy to pray today, God, but you know I mean well."
"I have too much homework, God, so I can't go to Bible study."

Sound familiar? We all do it every day. Deadlines, bottom lines, worry lines, and long lines preoccupy our thoughts, and suddenly a God we cannot see or touch is easy to push out, bump down the list, and forget.

Have you ever, considered, though, that putting God and His priorities off may be the reason your life is fraught with busy-ness but devoid of productivity? Is building and maintaining God's Kingdom the first priority in your life? Does it even make the "Top 10" list? How many of your top priorities, on the other hand, involve building your own kingdom?

Try something radical: examine your priority list through the eyes of the Spirit. Move God back up the list. Years of wrestling with balancing Eternal priorities and Earthly ones in college taught me one thing: if you REALLY put God first, He gets it all done.

This isn't a "increase your productivity" scheme, or an efficacy model. It's just a sticking point God has with our worldly lives. He insists on being first. Christ promises, though, that if we prioritize God's way and seek His goals first, then all the other stuff WILL get taken care of (see Matthew 6:33).

Perhaps, as we re-align our priorities with God's, we might find ourselves living a life far less futile and feel more fulfilled.