I took my wife out for dinner on Saturday night. We went to a very nice restaurant. As we sat and talked we took time to notice the other dinner guests seated throughout the establishment. There was one couple seated behind us that were not exactly having a good time. Their dinner was served, but the husband announced that it was the last few minutes of the game and he didn't want to miss it. He asked of it would be alright to go into the next room to catch the remaining moments and then he would return to eat. As his wife gave permission, a look of sadness came across her face. She remained this way, not touching her food, until her husband returned 20 minutes later. Then the conversation resumed with the husband telling her about the game while she looked on, uninterested. Sunday in church, we were enjoying great worship when a cell phone close by went off. The woman hurriedly picked it up and proceeded to leave while having her conversation as our pastor preached.
"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as My priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children." Hosea 4:6.
Hosea faced a traumatic time in his day. He was the husband of a broken home that God asked to go and speak to a broken nation. Israel at this time had forgotten God and God was sending Hosea to let them know that their time was short. Hosea had a wife that left him and had adulterous affairs. God told him to take this woman as his wife to show Hosea and Israel that this was the kind of relationship that God was in with Israel. Israel had sunken themselves into Canaanite religion, worshiping their gods and completely ignoring the Lord of Hosts. They had forgotten who God was to them. They had forsaken what was supposed to be important to them. Hosea learned that Israel's failure was acknowledging God. God's relation to Israel was that of love, but because Israel rejected God, they finally faced a harsh reality check. God let them be overtaken by the Assyrians. They were yet again to suffer bondage and cruelty, but only for a season.
Friends, this reminds me of where many of us are at today. We love to be in our churches, or with our families, but what is their importance to us really? Many times we let the distractions of unimportant things take priority over what should be important. As we sit in our churches on Sundays to worship, are we really there to worship and hear from God, or are we there for other reasons? How do we learn to hear from God, or allow ourselves to be discipled if we only go to church because we have nothing else to do or go with other agendas on our mind? In order to build our faith, to learn to trust in God, we have to decide that being in relationship with Him is the most important thing we will ever do! Church was meant to bring believers together to worship together and help each other grow in the knowledge of God! But many of us have forgotten that.
And, what of our families? How many of us sacrifice our time with our loved one's to watch games, or talk on our cell phones, or busy ourselves with other things? Many of us are trying to live life in the fast lane, concentrating on financial gain instead of remembering why we got into relationships with significant others. Marriages are failing at staggering rates today because couples have forgotten how important the other is to them, have forgotten to acknowledge them! Our relationship with God suffers this same way as well. We have failed to acknowledge God! We have forgotten who God is to us and because of this, we have forgotten to love as God has commanded us to love. How do we learn to trust God to give us the desires of our heart if we fail to acknowledge and love Him? How do we learn to love and acknowledge our loved ones if we don't first love and acknowledge God?
Today if you find yourself busy for unimportant things and failing at the important things, ask God to help you return to Him. Ask God to allow you to learn to acknowledge Him once again in your life and then you will also learn to make the important things--the important things again!
May God Richly Bless You Today!! H Trent!
"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as My priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children." Hosea 4:6.
Hosea faced a traumatic time in his day. He was the husband of a broken home that God asked to go and speak to a broken nation. Israel at this time had forgotten God and God was sending Hosea to let them know that their time was short. Hosea had a wife that left him and had adulterous affairs. God told him to take this woman as his wife to show Hosea and Israel that this was the kind of relationship that God was in with Israel. Israel had sunken themselves into Canaanite religion, worshiping their gods and completely ignoring the Lord of Hosts. They had forgotten who God was to them. They had forsaken what was supposed to be important to them. Hosea learned that Israel's failure was acknowledging God. God's relation to Israel was that of love, but because Israel rejected God, they finally faced a harsh reality check. God let them be overtaken by the Assyrians. They were yet again to suffer bondage and cruelty, but only for a season.
Friends, this reminds me of where many of us are at today. We love to be in our churches, or with our families, but what is their importance to us really? Many times we let the distractions of unimportant things take priority over what should be important. As we sit in our churches on Sundays to worship, are we really there to worship and hear from God, or are we there for other reasons? How do we learn to hear from God, or allow ourselves to be discipled if we only go to church because we have nothing else to do or go with other agendas on our mind? In order to build our faith, to learn to trust in God, we have to decide that being in relationship with Him is the most important thing we will ever do! Church was meant to bring believers together to worship together and help each other grow in the knowledge of God! But many of us have forgotten that.
And, what of our families? How many of us sacrifice our time with our loved one's to watch games, or talk on our cell phones, or busy ourselves with other things? Many of us are trying to live life in the fast lane, concentrating on financial gain instead of remembering why we got into relationships with significant others. Marriages are failing at staggering rates today because couples have forgotten how important the other is to them, have forgotten to acknowledge them! Our relationship with God suffers this same way as well. We have failed to acknowledge God! We have forgotten who God is to us and because of this, we have forgotten to love as God has commanded us to love. How do we learn to trust God to give us the desires of our heart if we fail to acknowledge and love Him? How do we learn to love and acknowledge our loved ones if we don't first love and acknowledge God?
Today if you find yourself busy for unimportant things and failing at the important things, ask God to help you return to Him. Ask God to allow you to learn to acknowledge Him once again in your life and then you will also learn to make the important things--the important things again!
May God Richly Bless You Today!! H Trent!
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