I went to what our church calls a "house party" recently. Basically it's what you go to to get involved in a small group.
One of the things that was mentioned/stressed was the importance of A.commitment to your group and B. Investing your time into their lives.
It made me think alot about investing my time. How important it is for me to invest wisely, and what it actually means to do so. I kind of have been all over the place recently in alot of different areas of my life and I feel I need to hone in on the importance of what it is I'm actually doing down here.
When I think about investing, I guess if I were to answer honestly the idea itself turns me off and I immediately think of a faster, more efficient way to accomplish the same goal. But when it comes down to it, I need to realize there just is no other way sometimes then slowly going through the necessary motions, and investing your time for a greater goal then what would otherwise be accomplished by going the quicker route.
I feel this is especially true for God's plans in your life. He loves to teach me patience, especially the consequences of not having any. Not waiting on him, and investing my trust and time on what He has planned rather then what I do....
I think the idea of investing is pretty unpopular for most. Why wait when you can get what you want NOW? But if you look around, generally in life not waiting is what gets you in the most trouble and is usually the worst product compared to the same thing that takes time to make (Food, relationships, any sort of creation)
I have realized lately that investing my time and trust into what God has planned for me was definitely the wise thing to do. He required some action on my part of course, but also alot of trust in the sense that if I keep looking for the right church He will provide it for me....I dunno, pretty exciting to see that happen TWICE in life now :)
A note to new Christians about investing: I think that, as with any other relationship, it takes investment of time to get to know this awesome savior. I remember how hard it was for me to understand who Christ actually was and not what I heard/assumed about Him. As you draw closer to god, God draws Closer to you. (James 4:8) and in time I got a little clearer picture what Christ-like love looked like in day to day life.
One thing that one of the pastors at church emphasized was how God speaks to people in so many different ways; people, situations, nature, indirect and direct experiences, etc. And people so often want those to be the primary means of communication, when really the best, and most reliable method is that He gave us His Scripture- and most of us have instant access to it, but neglect it and take it for granted. We don't want to take the time to truly study God's Word, and invest in it, but sadly our cultures today want something that we think is more valuable.
ReplyDeleteTo know God, is to want to know Him more.
His Word never comes back empty.