MORALLY NEUTRAL THINGS

"Now set your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God." 1 Chronicles 22:19

We like to think of Satan as this awful, nasty creature with the frightening power to get us to do hideous things. Things like hate and murder and kill and steal. I'm afraid though that these hideous, immoral things, as bad as they are, are not Satan's most deadly weapon. No, it's the in the middle things, the morally neutral ones that he uses the best. By turning our attention onto normal, good things, in a manner so subtle that we don't even realize it, Satan can distract our focus from God, leaving us lost to the truth and vulnerable for attack.

Just like it doesn't take long for a band without it's director, a ship without a compass or a team without a couch to go astray, human beings giving no thought to God means bad news. Without God as our strength, power and constant reminder of what's true, we quickly find ourselves in a downward spiral and on a crash course with destructive and selfish living.

In the first book of the bible we are told that God created the world and everything in it and that it was good. That means that that everything from food, TV shows, sports and even relationships were all made by God with a purpose in mind. One of those purposes was so that you and I could enjoy these things , recognize that they came from God, and praise him for all he has done. Satan's main goal is to prevent this from happening. If he can make us so obsessed with God's creation that we worship it instead of the creator himself then he has done his job.

Just stop for a second and think about all the things we spend our day doing. Eating, exercising, worrying about the way we look, trying on clothes, buying new ones, working, trying to be successful, trying to be liked, watching sports, playing sports, learning, studying, volunteering, going to church, walking, hiking, vacationing, spending time with kids, with loved ones....the list goes on and on. These are wonderful things no doubt but the real question is how much do you think about all of these things instead of the God who gave them to you? Favorite TV shows, the latest political news, music videos and the like. Is the problem that we're to busy or just that we choose to make no time for God? Satan has most of us so distracted by things, worries, fears, stuff and trying to be what the world wants us to be that we can give zero attention to the God of the universe who has given us everything.

Paul says twice in his first letter to the Corinthians that, "Everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible but I will not be mastered by anything." There are lots of good things that can be the focus of our lives but I hope you will realize like Paul did that "Nothing compares to the surpassing greatness of following Christ" (Phil 3:8). Will you keep Christ as your number one focus and spend time with him today?