Good morning all-
I started my day this morning at 5 am talking to my best friend. We have known each other for over 25 years and for the last ten we have been talking every morning. Beyond my devotional with the Lord, it's the best part of my day. Constants in life are what we all like to gravitate to. When we have a constant, we know we can count on it day by day. If that constant changes, we feel depleted, a little lost and maybe even a little sad. Why? Because we count on constants, they never change, right?
Like you, I have constants in my life. I know that I'm going to get up early and go to bed by 10 PM. I know that the first thing I'm going to do in the morning is brew my coffee and before I speak to my best friend, I'll already have taken my first sip. For the last 20 years, I have gotten up, gotten ready, talked to my friend and entered the door of my employer at 7 am. These were my constants. My relationship with my husband and sons changes daily depending on the circumstances but my routine is ever constant. That's how I lived at least until 15 months ago when the sand began to shift under my feet and I needed a rope strong enough to keep me from drowning. I needed Jesus every morning and every night and to be honest, every minute of the day. My constant became more than my routine, it became a life changing event.
Now don't get me wrong, Jesus has always been in my life. Sometimes, He just had to take a back seat to my busy life(I know you can see where this is going). I'm sure you're all rolling your eyes right now but you know that it's the truth. You meet a new guy you want to date and spend less time with Jesus. Your chasing your toddlers around and you spend less time with Jesus. Your juggling children, your spouse and a career and you spend less time with Jesus, or your kids start growing up and new challenges come and you have your career and you spend less time with Jesus. That's life. We all have things that have to be done in this life but the one thing you should never do is fit Jesus in when it's convenient. That was the lesson I needed to learn, Jesus was the reason I breathe. He is my whole focus, my whole life and anything else in this world is not constant.
Children grow up and leave you, your career might go from being life changing financially and professionally to crashing in the blink of an eye. People are in the world and the world deceives and destroys. And yet ,when we are in the race ,we take our eyes off the treasure we have in Jesus and everything that we believe is important becomes like dust filling the sky. Have you ever seen dust fill the sky? It puts a haze on everything, it blurs the beautiful picture behind it. No longer can you see the pillowing clouds or the bright sun, all you can see is a haze. That's what putting our trust in constants is like. It's hazing over the true constant, the everlasting constant, the one who never changes.
So today, as I read my devotional I thought of all the times I cried out to Jesus this last year. I thought of the things I treasured that are now like dust and I know that my trial was to remind me that even though everything is shifting around me there is one constant and it's Jesus. He has never left me. In the blink of an eye, I went from being a VP of Sales to an owner of a company. In the blink of an eye, I went from having stable income to wondering when the next paycheck will come. In the blink of an eye, everything I held dear was replaced with one thing, Jesus. The world failed me but Jesus righted my path, directed it and is doing so as we speak. I have confidence in that because He holds the keys to my past, present and future. I can count on Him to be my constant because He said so and His word is worth more than gold. All the things I've treasured for the last 20 years don't add up to one second with Jesus, which leads me right back to the title for today. What do you believe is constant in your life? What do you treasure more than your time with Jesus? What obstacles are you putting between you and the one who never leaves you or forsakes you? These are the questions we must answer so that we put nothing before our only constant. Jesus remains the same. God has never left His people, His people left Him. You may not think you have but look at the time you spend each day and ask yourself, "How much time did I give to Jesus today?" That's how I'm living now, moment by moment with my maker. I'm still not where I want to be but I'm on a much better path and with that, my confidence is moving away from me and toward Him.
Every day we make a choice to choose Him. Jesus, on the other hand, chose us before time began. We were His chosen people. He knows us by name and for over thousands of years the God of Abraham is the same God in 2016. He is constant, never changing and scanning the world for people who believe. What are you going to trust in, the world or Jesus? Big question, I know. However, there really is only one answer, trust in Jesus!
I leave you today with love, prayer and a heart for Jesus. I'm so grateful that Jesus loves us even if we only give him a token of our day. He is our one true constant and that even when I'm like shifting sand, He stands on the rock. Thanks for reading these words and like always I'm praying that you find Jesus in them!
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NKJV)
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
I Chronicles 28:20 (NKJV)
And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
Hebrews 13:8 (NKJV)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
O, Lord our Father who art in heaven, thank you for being constant throughout the ages. We thank you for your consistency in our lives even when we aren't. You, O, Lord deserve so much more than we give but You love us anyway. Please help us to put you first, make You our constant and remember that we can count on You so much more than we do. I, for one, am grateful for Your love, sacrifice and ever presence in me today. May the Lord of our lives light the paths for all that seek YOU! In Jesus name, Amen
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