Apples of Gold

I am a routine kind of girl. I prefer to start my mornings with a cup of tea, my Bible and some one-on-one time with the Lord. There are mornings that just do not go quite like that. 

Often it is my own fault. Tossing and turning throughout the night or dealing with the consequences of not making wise decisions with my food choices can make rising and shining more difficult. 

There are times that my To-Do-List is set aside for reasons beyond my control. My favorite reason is named Elijah. Today my day came to a complete stop as my sweet grandson snuggled close, drifting to sleep to my rendition of “Jesus Loves Me”. 

When our days are interrupted, no matter how pleasant the interruption might be, we have to make choices about which things on our To-Do-List are actually valuable and which could be set aside with little to no consequence. 

Paul gives us some straightforward insight to guide us in our approach:

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! Philippians 3:8-11

Knowing God was not the first item on Paul’s To-Do-List. There was no list. Knowing God was the only thing he considered valuable. Compared to knowing Christ everything else ranked as garbage or as the KJV translates it, dung! 

I completely agree with Paul on this, and yet my daily choices are not always an accurate reflection of this principle. There are days that I sleep in too late, choose a distraction over devotion, or simply find myself on a crash course with unending busyness, leaving little or no time for what is actually important. 

Recently Brad and I took a long trip with a final destination, but no planned route. We wandered on roads headed vaguely towards our goal. We ended up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was absolutely beautiful. However, it didn’t take long for me to notice the road was surprisingly smooth and actually looked newly paved. The wheels of my mind started turning and I vaguely remembered something about a recent hurricane that had shot inland. There was a small but steady warning in my mind that we might run into a snag. Sure enough, we started seeing road closure ahead signs. We had to leave what was really the only semi-direct route to our destination and try to figure out what to do next. Not only was the Blue Ridge Parkway closed ahead but several other roads were as well. Deep in the mountains there are not a whole lot of options and certainly no direct route.  We stumbled along, taking random roads that led in the general direction of our objective. We arrived a bit more weary and worn than intended. 

Failure to plan ahead can land us on a dead end road. More often it leaves us with an over-whelming To-Do-List that crowds out the things that matter most with things that are labeled “Urgent”.  

There will always be things that demand our attention. They will also seek to gain our affection. If we allow the daily grind to draw our focus we will find ourselves fretting over things that God has promised to have under control. 

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:33-34

 Needless worrying seems to be a common hobby. In reality, 91.4% of things that people worry about never happen. Even the fraction of things that do occur are often far less traumatic than expected. That statistic doesn’t even factor in the intervention of our loving heavenly Father. 

So much energy spent fretting over scenarios we will never face could be put to a much better use, getting to know our Savior on a deep, personal level. 

Ginosko, is the word Paul used to describe knowing Christ. It has a connotation of hiding or revealing an important secret. Secrets are usually shared in an intimate setting with those you trust. Paul wanted to know Jesus on a level only available to those who are closest to him. 

Being close enough to God to hear the whisper of a secret is available to each of us. 

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. James 4:8

Like Paul, may we get rid of our To-Do-List and become “Unlisted”!