We are about to march into a rather significant and important – and busy – couple of months. The Harvest Festival is Thursday. November welcomes Thanksgiving and is also set apart for celebrations of our Diamond Jubilee. It is our 60th anniversary and we want to be thankful, grateful, and hopeful in all that God has done, is doing, and will do among us. As that ends, we will be into full Christmas mode. We’ll begin with our Tree Lighting and continue with special events to acknowledge the coming of Jesus. The month will culminate in two candlelight Christmas Eve services.
Before we launch into a frenetic season (for which I am very excited) I have a warning. I sometimes feel that we plan so many things that we distract from the most important. And the most important “thing” is that you spend time with Jesus. Do not let our “busyness” interrupt your personal walk with Jesus. But then I think: perhaps the reason we struggle in our time with Jesus is not a matter of time. Could it be a matter of posture?
We all have the same hours in a day. We all have choices to make with those hours. There is a cost associated with following Jesus – because doing so requires sacrifice and fresh priorities in our lives. Jesus knows that living as His disciple brings true freedom, but living counter-culturally is difficult – and prioritizing time with Jesus as our focus is absolutely counter-cultural.
In Psalm 16, the psalmist says I will keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 27 says: One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Let us choose to do some gazing even though the days are busy. And our success will be dependent on our posture.
What does it mean for us to align our lives with our values? What does it mean to develop an inner gaze that loves to ponder at the beauty of the Lord? How can we shift our schedules and our habits to become better disciples of Christ? The last thing I claim to have is all of the answers—I am learning, and my prayer is that these thoughts would encourage more intentional growth and authentic pursuit of Jesus in all of us. Even though the next two months will be very busy around here, I do hope they provide fresh opportunities for true worship of God. And I hope they bring a couple of months of growth in Him. And may they allow us to check our posture.