Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Giving My Strength

Temperatures have plunged – well, in South Carolina they more take a little jump off the back step – but they are at the coldest they will probably be this year.  We hole up in our houses and sleep like bears when we can.  Time doesn’t slow down the way it does in the summer.  Where does it go?  It seems to slip through my fingers more during the winter.

Is my time my own?  Deuteronomy 6:5 says I am to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  Jesus repeated that in Matthew 22:37-38, calling it the first and greatest commandment.  The first of the Ten Commandments is “You shall have no other Gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)  So this is fairly clear – no other gods, no idols, complete devotion to God.

“Devotion” sounds more like a feeling kind of thing.   Some days I do better at that than others.  And I know it’s not how well I move under my own steam but how much I rely on God to get me through.  But some days I think of Him, love Him, pour my heart and soul into Him.  I’m trying to develop that mindset more and more.

It’s that whole strength thing that hangs me up.  Because I’m pretty sure that one is going to involve my body.  So when I’m sitting comfortably in my rocker on the porch and I see my neighbor in the yard, I really can’t ignore that impulse to go and chat for a minute or two.  When I’m putting off cleaning that closet, knowing I need to do it, my whole strength is not involved in obedience.  ALL my strength.  That involves every single thing I do – housework, fun stuff, reading, studying, praying and cooking.

If I’m loving God, I’m obeying Him by serving and by spending time wisely.  And yeah, I know.  I’m retired and the hours just stretch ahead in blissful plenty.  But here’s the deal:  to the person given much, much will be required (Luke 12:48).  It’s not a problem of my knowing what it is He wants me to do on a minute by minute basis.  I just flat out sometimes don’t want to do it! 

Loving Him with all my strength?  Not as often as I should.  Can I get an exemption from physical exercise?  Not so much.  It seems pretty clear.  Now I just have to figure out how to do it without “grumbling or complaining.”