Proverbs 13:4 – The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.
THEME OF THE DAY. IT WON’T COME EASY. In the High Priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus, He opens the dialogue with His Father by stating two things which pertain directly to us; His authority over us and the privilege of eternal life defined as knowing God and Himself – “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:1-4).
When it comes to the Christian life, it is all about knowing God; our triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are Christians called to know God. It is life’s greatest privilege. It is also life’s greatest responsibility. And when it comes to exercising our privilege and fulfilling our responsibility, both are accomplished in our lives by grace; God’s amazing grace.
It is grace from start to finish in the Christian life. We are saved by grace. We are daily forgiven by grace. We are ultimately taken to heaven by grace. Nothing is possible in the Christian life without grace. That includes knowing God. Yet, grace freely given must be grace diligently relied and acted upon. This is never more true than in our pursuit of life’s greatest privilege and responsibility – knowing God. God will give us grace to know Him, but He will not do the “hard work” of exercising His grace to know Him. The old saying “Let go and let God” is not only bad theology but, if heeded, will produce lazy Christians who cry out, “Lord, I want to know You”, but don’t put forth the diligence and effort to make the petition reality. Such Christians are defined in King Solomon’s words in today’s scripture. There exists a craving, even hunger, but no effort to fulfill the craving and appetite. Friends, God will not reveal Himself to us without our efforts, our best efforts, to know Him. He is too wonderful, too gracious, too loving, and too glorious to be “had” and known by half-hearted efforts to seek Him. He will not allow us to get close to Him if we remain, in Solomon’s words, “spiritual sluggards.” Listen to the king more attentively – “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing.” Notice what the lazy person gets; nothing. Not some things, but nothing. And that applies in the pursuit of knowing God. The Lord has made it clear, “You will find Me when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
Please don’t be discouraged. Yes, it won’t come easy to be intimate with the Lord Jesus. Yes, it will take great resolve to say “no” to television, social media, entertainment, activities, events, and other worldly distractions. But it is worth it; worth it beyond what words may describe. Think about it, friends. We are invited to know God; to really know Him, adore Him, walk with Him. Isn’t that enough to cause us to give it our best of effort and energy? Is the thought of such privilege enough to cause us to forsake the world and worldly pursuits? And here comes the encouraging part. Remember the grace we talked about earlier in this nugget? It is also enabling grace; enabling us to discipline our bodies, minds, hearts, wills, and time to know God in prayer and the Word. Lean on enabling grace and watch how God develops within us the discipline to seek Him and then rewarding us with the incredible and soul-satisfying experience of knowing Him.
PRAYER: “Lord, forgive when I give more effort to the things of the world than to Your Word.”
QUOTE: “We are privileged to know God and must be diligent to make that privilege real.”