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Sunday, May 18, 2014

Pastoral Pings ~ From Starting Computer to Starting with Christ

          I had no idea that my morning would begin with such frustration, and turn into a very important object lesson.
          It began when I got up early to have my time with God and prepare for Sunday morning church-time. I turned on my computer to get ready for prayer journaling, and went off to make my coffee. When I got back to my office, the computer was not starting. Something was wrong.
          After trying a few things, it was clear that my computer was not going to cooperate, so I started the recommended diagnostic and went off to set up something different. Awhile later, I came back to see the result of the checkup, only to discover it couldn’t find or fix the problem.
          However, in closing, it reminded me that, if I had recently plugged in a camera or other equipment to the computer, that could interfere with the start-up. A smile came to my face because I had been here before. It also just so happened that a little friend had brought over a tablet-device of some sort, and I had plugged it in to my computer the night before to charge it up.
          With both apprehension and hope, I unplugged the external device. The computer immediately responded as with a sigh of appreciation, and began starting up as usual. It wasn’t long before I was settled into some good prayer journaling, thankful for access to my notes from the week as I needed to compile everything into a sermon for the morning.
          It was some time later that I realized that this experience with the computer sounded like a familiar complaint. One of the common responses to my attempt to teach people to have a daily time with God in the word and prayer is that it is just so hard to get going. No one argues that there is something wrong with the idea of spending time with God. It’s all about the practical dynamics of getting started.
          The fact is, that people who have troubled getting underway in their time with God don’t have trouble getting started in other things. In fact, the busyness in starting other things is often part of the reason for not starting time with God.
          It all made sense that people are restricted in getting going  with God because they have other things plugged into their hearts that are in conflict with God’s start-up program. It reminds me of the way James described things:
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.[1]
          James put his finger on the problem of a frustrated church. They were experiencing conflicts and difficulties for one big, but simple, reason. They were too plugged in to the world (or the world was too plugged in to them!).
          I can see how this is a problem for people who just can’t get things started in their daily time with God. It’s because they are plugged in to things they consider more important.
          How do we get the world unplugged from our hearts so that we can boot-up our love relationship with God? James’ answer is also clear, and simple:
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.[2]
          Instead of submitting to the devil (including his friends, the world and the flesh), and resisting the Spirit of God, we are to submit to God and resist the devil. Or, in line with the object lesson of the morning, we need to unplug our love of the world and submit to the love of God.
          It is a basic law that we busy ourselves in the things we love. A growing love relationship with God requires unplugging whatever of the world, the flesh, and the devil is blocking our spiritual start-up program. And, when we get the start-up part of our relationship with God going, we join God’s work in making the best relationship in the world keep growing!

© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)





[1] James 4:2-4
[2] James 4:7-10

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