Everybody think about being bored. You desperately want something to do. So your parents offer to ‘cure’ your boredom with yard work, dishes, vacuuming etc. This would make time pass, and you’d be busy- but it isn’t the ideal ‘cure’. Imagine, instead, you get a phone call from a good friend who has decided to throw a last minute end of summer BBQ and pool party with some of your favorite people. Which would you choose? Why?
Now imagine you come home one day and see a car in the driveway you don’t recognize. It’s old, worn, kind of beat up, but it runs well. Your parents tell you it’s yours. Maybe not your dream car, but it will get you from a to b. Nice surprise! Or imagine coming home and seeing a brand new shiny car straight off the lot sitting in your driveway. Both would be a welcome surprise, but which would be more exciting? Why?
This may not be too hard to imagine:
You wake up late for school. You only have enough time to grab your stuff and go. You didn’t eat breakfast, and by lunch you’re starving. You didn’t pack a lunch and have no money- and no one to beg or borrow from. Your last class is PE. You have to run a mile. After school you walk home, it’s hot outside and you are exhausted. You dig through the fridge and cabinets for food and only find a can of soup. Not what you’d hoped for- but you are starving. Or, imagine coming home to a freshly made deli sandwich, just how you like it, with grapes, ice cold lemonade, and some delicious home baked cookies. Which sounds better? Why?
Think about these things. Think about your life and how you are living.
Are you a Christian?
What are you offering to God?
Are you the chores, the beat up car or the bowl of soup? Though these things may meet a need, do the appease or please?
Are you aiming to appease God or please Him? We are called to give him our very best, our whole self. Are we being lazy?
Romans 12:1-2 (niv)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. [2] Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Aim to be the pool party, the shiny car, the delicious meal for God. He deserves our very best and should receive nothing less. Not in action, attitude or thought. Get closer to Him. Ask him what He wants. Do it.
-Karyn