Life is like being on a NASCAR track. There are a hundred lightning-quick cars barreling along all around us, going just as fast as we are, and if we take our eyes off them for a moment, we can be certain we’ll crash and burn.
That’s pretty much on the money, too. Life rarely slows down just for us. It doesn’t matter that we’re exhausted, the kids need new shoes, and the car’s making a strange noise under the hood.
Even so, there are some things that require a moment of silence for us to think them through. We have to get off the NASCAR track, if just for an hour or two, and get our minds around the prospect of God. Who is he? What does he want from us? How can we become better acquainted with him? Our answers are found in the Bible.
Here are five things to consider from the Word of God:
Mark 12:30-31 says:
“…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, [and] you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
It’s easy to be egocentric; to think the world revolves around us; to be in pain and think no one else cares. Our breakout moment comes when we put other people’s needs before our own. We can only do that when we give up our self-centered love, and let love for God fill up the empty space left behind.
Hebrews 9:27 cautions:
“And…it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”
We only get one shot at this. Life is our gift, handed to us at birth, burning like a candle. The faster it burns, the less we have left over. When we trim the flame, we get the brightest light with the least consumption of our quality of life. We trim the flame by excising sin from our life.
Hebrews 4:12 declares:
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
God’s Word is our pair of scissors. The truth of the ages, the spiritual constructs that shape our yearnings and keep our footsteps headed towards God, resides within. When we feel as though we’re nudging bumpers with the other drivers on the track, we need to sink into scripture for a few minutes. The promises of God and their familiar cadences will calm our thoughts and focus us on him.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 whispers:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
We can help others in the same way. Post a helpful scripture on Facebook. Work a useful verse into a conversation. Send a card with a Biblical blessing written in our own hand. That personal touch will make a difference when the recipient knows we searched out that verse just for her.
Colossians 3:17 cajoles:
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Here is the crux of our time in the Word, the necessary buffer that protects us from the other drivers on the road, the thing which will make the difference, turning our busy yesterdays into our productive tomorrows: When we recognize the truth that God is in, is all around, and is the cause of every good thing that makes life worth living, and we continually raise our thanks unto him, our attitudes will change, we will see the screaming NASCAR rockets around us differently, and instead of wanting off the track, we’ll be filled with the desire to win for Jesus at any cost.
It’s taken two minutes to read this article; we’ve covered five things to think about; we can now step into a life changed through focus on the Word of God. Yeah, it’s that easy, when we open ourselves to the incredible truths to be discovered in the Holy Bible.
When we begin to think about God, soon God is all we’ll want to think about.
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