Letting Good Things Keep Us From God Things

Luke 7:30

But the Pharisees and experts in religious law rejected God's plan for them, for they had refused John's baptism.

God's plan for our lives calls for total surrender to Him.  The enemy has a different plan.  The Pharisees suffered under the hand of Satan as they rejected God's plans in order to follow their own plans which they were deceived into believing were built upon many good things.

The enemy uses all the facets of our lives on earth as areas of distraction in order to keep us from full surrender to Our Lord.  Our work, recreation, hobbies and even family activities can all be big areas of distraction for us.  Ironically, the work that we do as a ministry to support the Body of Christ may also become a distraction that keeps us from digging deep into our relationship with Jesus Christ.  All of these activities can certainly be deemed good in their own right and are likely extremely productive.  That is why Satan is so successful in distracting us from God.  Satan entices us to replace God with good things.

Like the Pharisees, as we pursue all these good things in our lives,  we miss out on the things that God has set aside for us.  Oneness with Jesus Christ is the only way for us to successfully balance all that we deal with in life.  Jesus is the fulcrum.  He balances our load by providing the right foundation for all that we do.  When we stay in balance by following the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we can reside in a place of rest and satisfaction unlike anything that we can derive from our own plans.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for being our refuge.  We bless the name of Jesus for being our port in the storm, our deliverer from our sins, our shield against the enemy and our comforter for all of our cares, fears and sorrows.  We pray, Lord, that You will draw us into full surrender to Your Son, not only in the words of our lips, but in the actions that come from our hearts.  We seek to find the rest for our souls that is only available through Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of the One from whom all good things come, Jesus Christ.