Scripture:
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Thought for the day:
I have a thriving plant arrangement in my office that I received as a gift when I came to Grace over 2 years ago. That is it thriving is surprising because I have a tendency to kill plants just by looking at them. I don’t know what kind of plants they are but I think one of them is an “elephant ear” or at least that is what I call it.
Anyhow, this arrangement is a riot! For two years I had been constantly fighting with it because it was always turning away from me. The leaves were constantly stretching towards the sunshine away from me thus all I ever get to see is the cadre of stems and the underside of the leaves. Every day, I turn the plant around so that I can enjoy the shades of green in its cool looking leaves and every day, the plant leans itself back towards the sun. No matter what I do, it refuses to grow towards anything other than the sun! Sound familiar?
I constantly have things in my life that are fighting to turn me away from the Son and sadly, I don’t always prove to be as tenacious about finding the Son as my plant is.
Perhaps you can relate. Have you struggled with your finances? Our quest to have enough money to live comfortably (whatever that means) has a tendency to turn us away from the Son. Have you ever worried over a health issue, yours or someone near to you? Helplessness concerning health can steal your attention away from the Son in a heartbeat. Have you ever been in a relationship that “went south?” It is easy to lose sight of the Son when someone has hurt you.
The reality is that all these things and a litany of others will turn us away from the Son. It’s the game that evil plays with our hearts and minds, because the great deceiver desperately wants our attention.
The question is how long will we allow our focus to be changed? How long will we use our finances in ways that don’t glorify God? How long will we fail to trust our health issues to the Great Physician? How long will we allow a broken relationship to keep us from the comforting presence of the One who desires oneness with us more than anything else in all creation? How long will it take us to turn back to the Son when evil draws us away?
I finally wised up… I put the arrangement in a place where it could reach for the sun, while I could still see its beauty. Perhaps that is what we need to do spiritually as well. Sometimes, we need to reposition ourselves so that we can see the Son and the beauty of those reaching for Jesus as well.
Prayer for the day:
Dear Lord, help me to not be an obstacle in another’s faith journey but to be positioned in such a way as to view the blessings of both, You and others who are along the faith journey. Amen.