Monday, July 25, 2011

Focus & Dedication or Obsession?

Obsession - the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

I realized this morning as I was sitting quietly with the Father that I had spent the past couple of weeks completely focused, completely obsessed you might say with something other than Him. It was a painful realization, considering I wasn’t actually doing anything bad. The problem was I was putting most of my time, okay nearly all of my time, into something that wasn’t doing anything for my growth or my walk with Him.

You see a couple of weeks ago I decided to read the Twilight Series. Now I believe there isn’t anything bad in the stories themselves. They don’t denounce God, they don’t promote promiscuity, they are a good story. My problem was that I found myself getting lost in the story and wanting to spend all my time there. I allowed my desire to finish the books to overshadow not only my day to day life, but more importantly it overshadowed my walk with God.

How often do we allow an innocent past time to consume us? What is it that you can or have become obsessed about? Is it a sport, the internet or maybe social networking? What about that craft project that just gets more complicated or home renovation? The computer game you just can’t seem to walk away from? Even worse than all of these what about that relationship that consumes your every moment whether its your spouse, potential spouse or even your children?

Isn’t it funny how something innocent and good can be used against us. Satan is crafty, the Prince of Lies. He has the ability to twist even the best intentions to his gain. Take a moment today to look and see where you may have idols, where you need to renounce Satan and his hold on you.

You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, ~ Exodus 20: 4-5 (NLT)

We are so blessed to have a Father who loves us so much that all He wants is to have us walk with Him. So as of today I’m back on track. I renounce the pull, the obsession I’ve had and now my focus is back on what’s important – GOD!