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Jesus is greater than everything.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Devos and Deltas

North Africa is a massive desert, the Sahara Desert to be exact. Except Antarctica (which is dumb because it qualifies on a technicality), the Sahara is easily the largest desert in the world. The only variance in color in a satellite photo of North Africa is the sandy light brown color that on occasion moves to a darker brown. Dry sand and more dry sand.

There is one peculiar sight, however; the northeast section of the map where Egypt has been located for a few thousand years contains a lonely strip that fans out into the Mediterranean Sea in resplendent, life-bearing green.

That green symbol of vivacity are the banks of the Nile River.

How awesome is that! God decided to create North Africa a barren wasteland but stick the longest river in the world right in the middle of it. What are rivers? Water. What is a desert? Lack of water. Ancient Near East civilizations were oriented around this same river for the same reason. Without water, life is impossible.

Think with me for a second; who is Jesus? Jesus is the source of the water without which we don't have life (John 7:37-39). Without Him, we die inside. We shrivel and dry up, lose passion and fervor for the glory of God that we might have had before, thusly becoming ineffective for the kingdom and terrible heralds of the beauty of our Savior.

For example, the song "As The Deer" can be depressing at times because so often I cannot truthfully sing the lyrics, "As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after You!" Time and time again I don't want to read the Bible, I don't want to pray, I don't want to share my problems with others that care. But it's like my pastor once said, just because you don't think you are thirsty doesn't mean that you aren't. My heart is just like the deer- it always needs water; the problem is that I feed it motor oil instead. When I could humble myself before God and laying my burdens on him, I run to books. I run to athletics. I run to writing. I run to music. I run to food. I run to cleaning my house. I run to calling friends. I run to bed.

God is the water that will quench our thirst. I know what happens to my body when it gets racked with thirst: I get tired, sullen, irritable, bitter, sharp, rude, unloving, selfish, along with all kinds of other sinful attitudes. When I am finally able to replenish my bodily water supply, I feel like my whole persona changes for the better. During these periods of time when I have not talked to Jesus or read what He has to say to me, my propensities change towards all kinds of worldly ungodliness. I shy away from good, hard conversations with a brother, I listen to music that fills me up with more of myself, and I waste tons of time on selfishness; but all in all, I just. feel. dry.

I can't give you "Seven Ways To Have A Successful Devotional Life" because there are no seven ways to have a successful devotional life. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about. Your "devotions" should be just that- a time where you pursue God because you are DEVOTED to Him! "Devotions" isn't this magical spiritual weapon that we can wield to boost our sanctification points each day we get it done.

This is the bottom line: if you are concerned with your lack of time in the Word and prayer, don't just try harder. Trust me, it never works. Instead, ask yourself why you don't want to read the message from the creator of the universe to YOU. Ask yourself why you don't want talk to Him like you talk to your friends. Ask Him to change your heart to genuinely want to do those things. He's promised that if you ask, He will provide. At that point, take some time and start reading! If you are looking for suggestions, I suggest reading a chapter or two from the book of John everyday- one of my personal favorites.

Remember, the farther away from the Nile that your spirit runs, the more dry, cracked, and bloody it will become. Gross, but true.

Rejoice in the fact that God is our hope and He will enable those who seek Him!

.DSN.


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