What do we need to put away?
“And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, ‘If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Phiistines.'”
1 Samuel 7:3
In our quest to follow Jesus, we face many distractions. In our hearts, we want to be fully committed to God, following Him in all areas of our lives, putting Him first in every situation, serving Him completely. We have the best intentions. But sometimes we get distracted.
Distractions aren’t necessarily bad in and of themselves, but when they take our minds and hearts off following God, they are harmful. We pick up our phone to check texts or emails, and end up spending an hour on the phone. Now it’s time to get ready to go to work and we have no time for devotions.
Now it’s the end of the day, and we’re tired after a day of work. We relax by watching some television, or checking out social media, or reading a book. We end up falling asleep without having devotions or praying.
Does this sound familiar at all?
There are some things we need to put away if we want to “return to the Lord with all your heart.” What are those “time-wasters” that consume our time and energy and reduce our time in the Word and prayer? First we need to identify the source. Again, it’s very possible the source is not necessarily ungodly, but spending too much time on it is unedifying. If I read a novel for an hour, it’s relaxing. If I spend half a day reading a novel, I’m not spending my time productively, and I may be missing out on something God wants me to do, someone He wants me to bless.
What are those activities we need to “put away” so we can return to the Lord and serve Him only? Notice the conditional “if” in the verse. We have a choice. If we want to return to the Lord, there are things we must put away. May God give us the grace to acknowledge them, put them away, and serve Him fully.
God gives us the will to make choices. Sometimes mine aren’t very good. It’s easy to get complacent. Thank you for the reminder.
Yes, complacency is so easy to slide into – I am trying to live deliberately, and make godly choices.
Such a great reminder that we sometimes have to put away things to get nourished by His Word. I do my best to not turn on anything before I spend time with Him.
Me too! I need to pray before I turn on my phone – otherwise the day doesn’t start well.
Wonderful reminder. It is easy to get distracted from what is important. Not only with our time with the Lord but with family as well. We have a no cell phone rule at dinner.
Great rule! Remember the days when we didn’t have that rule – there were no cell phones!!