Putting Principle Into Practice

6 days? Far too long. It's time to start putting principle into practice. What I mean by that is this: I have this idea that I am obligated to not only pray and read for the Scripture but also to ponder and meditate on it. Furthermore, this new found and renewed knowledge is to be shared with others. That is my opinion. That is what I believe. And that is what I'll do.

I was talking to my mom the other day about what makes me unique, distinct from my peers. I honestly have a ton of trouble with this. I consider myself a logical person. I come to logical conclusions about things, and then assume there must be a multitude of people out there that think like me (what with more than 6 billion people out there) that come to logical conclusions, making me the antithesis of unique. Well, she alerted me to the reality that my thinking was somewhat incorrect, and there really aren't that many people out there that think like me, based on a certain concept I apparently have grasped.

You see, many people complain that there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything they want to do. This is true. I experience this dilemma often. I would love to be able to have tons of free time to just eat, watch TV, chat, improve my singing, play with K'Nex, write songs on the guitar, blog, meditate on the Lord, learn whatever I can about whatever I want via the internet or school, among other things. Obviously, I cannot do all these things every day to the extent I would like to. I cannot even do a few of these things every day to the extent I would like to. There is reality that gets in the way. The reality is that God gives us a certain amount of time each day to do the things we choose to do. The reality is that we are not able to do everything we would like. The reality is that some things need to be sacrificed. Ouch. Perhaps a sensitive subject for some, sacrifice, but that is the reality God calls us to. His Word says:

"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.' " (Mark 8:34).

Christ tells us to sacrifice our lives to Him in order to truly be His disciples (Matthew 16:25). What we sacrifice and what we hang on to shows what is truly important to us. This is similar to the concept that “the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart…” (Matthew 15:18). James 2 talks about actions directly relating to belief and faith. We will act on what we put our faith in. It’s pretty simple, yet very difficult for many to accept. If we are hanging on to the idea that “I just don’t have time in my day to read the Bible, I’m way too busy.” What? Are you joking me? You have plenty of time in your day to obey God. You have 24 hours, repeated and renewed again and again with brand new days all the time. It all depends where your priorities are. This is an extremely difficult thing for many to live out, myself included. Frankly, it makes me angry when people use this excuse, because they are always doing one of two things. Either they are 1) lying, or 2) admitting that God holds a position below other “obligations.” God is never to hold this position. He should always be number one, just like commandment number one says: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Nothing is more important than Him.

If you are not acting it out, you aren't really believing it.