Another reason I haven't updated is something I'm a little embarrassed of, but it's something I think we've all done from time to time. That is we all get distracted at times, and it ties in perfectly with guarding your ground. Mark 4 says
Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
I just have allowed myself to get too entangled in worry and the desires for other things outside of the word. I didn't say sin, although worry has been a sin, but I've also taken more time on legitimate things, but nonetheless things that won't amount to a hill a beans throughout eternity. Maybe you can relate. If we're not careful, desires for other things can enter in a choke the life that the word should be giving us.
You see, the soil of our heart is made for the word of God, but sometimes we try and plant other along with it. The problem is pretty soon those other things suck out all the nutrients that should be going to the word, and next thing you know we have this big, huge "distraction" plant and this little itty-bitty word plant.
What we meditate on is a pretty huge deal. Before Joshua was to possess the land that God promised Israel, he told him
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
In other words, Joshua was to think on God's word all day and all night, and when it wasn't day or night, he could think whatever he wanted. I know that's extreme, but you get the picture. We're never going to go in and possess what God wants us to possess if we don't take time to meditate on the Word night and day. And you and I can't do that when we're taken up with hobbies or goofing off, or are too busy trying to earn a living, or are too worried to think about anything else but our problem. We know worry is a sin; we're told to cast our cares upon the Lord. But work or other interests in itself are not a sin, but when we are spending time with them at the expense of renewing our minds, we become unfruitful Christians, and that's very dangerous ground.
Sometimes it's not just the sins that slow us down from running the race God has set before us, sometimes it's the weights. Hebrews says:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
If we're not careful, we can get weighed down with a number of things that slow us to the point that we will never finish what God has called us to do. We all have our own race to run, and God doesn't hand out crowns to also-rans. The prize goes out to winners. When you see an Olympic runner, they take off their pants and jackets and strip down to their skivvies. Even their shoes are light-weight. You don't see them running with steel-toed boots, thick overalls and winter coats on!
We all have an individual supply were are to provide the body of Christ through prayer and service. We're never going to be able to give that supply if we're giving ourselves to other things, even if those things in themselves are not necessarily sin.
I'll leave with this verse found in 1 Timothy, with added emphasis:
Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
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