FROM THE DAWGHOUSE
A DAY OF OPPORTUNITY
I get to the office at about 6:15am each day – yes even at the ripe young age of 68. It gives me time to prepare for the workday ahead of me, and more importantly, to spend time with my maker – My daily appointment with God (DAWG).
Over the past few days, God has led me to a few different readings in the book of John, Ezekiel, Ephesians, and Hebrews. And the blaring message…
ETERNITY begins now.
I get Holy Ghost bumps when I think about that. Eternity is what John’s Gospel promises when it says that “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.”
So, I wanted to remind my brothers at Forge, that we all need time to know God, and that He has given it to us. Don’t believe the lies of the evil one and constantly tell yourself “I just don’t have time.” I don’t have time to pray. I don’t have time for Church. I don’t have time for Forge. I don’t have time for the brothers sitting at my table. I don’t have time for my family. I don’t have time for God.
Hebrews refers to God’s time as Today: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”
The message, even during times of deep struggle, is that today is always a day of opportunity. Hebrews urges us to enter God’s rest Today. God’s rest I define as being in a state in which everything else stops and we have the opportunity we need to know God. It is not sandwiched into small slots of time. It is a river from heaven flowing through our day, no matter what the circumstances may be.
God gives us the time we need to know Him. But do we take it seriously? I confess I miss the mark all too often. I have seen the opportunities to know Him personally in a multitude of ways: in conversation, in meals together, in visits with family, in stories, in sacrifice, in praise, in work, to name a few. Time is the medium in which we use these avenues of God’s grace. He makes Himself available through them, here and now in time.
I asked myself this morning, am I living through my God-given TODAY in a deadened stupor, tumbling from one activity to the next? Or am I using TODAY for a deepened relationship with God and enjoying it to the utmost?
Are we giving God our time? Are we using our time to explore His personality? How will your (and my) use of time today predict your use of eternity?
Eternity begins now, today!
Joe Bouch, FORGE Winter Springs
