Recently, a family of one of the students in the youth group invited me for dinner. Before we ate, the student challenged me to a Guitar Hero duel. Despite my very limited exposure to the wildly popular video game, I agreed. After my rather pathetic attempt at playing a song on medium level, he stepped up and played the exact same song on expert…and blew my score away!
Something that I noticed while he was playing the song got me thinking. As he hit buttons and strummed the instrument with lightening speed in order to keep up with the song, I noticed that the noise from him playing the guitar was so loud that it just about drowned out the music itself. Sure, he was hitting every note perfectly (something I could never do), and he was doing all the right things, but it seemed like the right things were making it hard to hear the song he was playing.
I believe there is a direct parallel to the way we approach the Christian life. Could there be times when we realize that, while we are doing so much for the Lord, the “noise” from all that we are doing has caused us to lose our ability to hear Him clearly? That was the problem with the Ephesian church in Revelation 2. Though they had labored and had cast out false apostles and had persevered through all the trials, Christ pointed out one major flaw: “you have left your first love.” They had done so much for God that they failed to spend time with God. Yes, we are to do His will, and that includes serving Him in many ways. But there are so many things that are “right” and so many ways to “serve the Lord” that we need to be careful not to get caught up in serving for service’s sake. The Lord reminds us that sometimes we are to just “be still, and know that I am God.” [Psalm 46:10]
I hope this does not discourage you from serving God in ways you feel He wants you to serve. Serving God in the right way is never a bad thing. But make sure that your first love stays in its rightful place. Please don’t let the noise of your works drown out the voice and leading of God. May we never mistake our work for God as a substitute for a relationship with Him!
Something that I noticed while he was playing the song got me thinking. As he hit buttons and strummed the instrument with lightening speed in order to keep up with the song, I noticed that the noise from him playing the guitar was so loud that it just about drowned out the music itself. Sure, he was hitting every note perfectly (something I could never do), and he was doing all the right things, but it seemed like the right things were making it hard to hear the song he was playing.
I believe there is a direct parallel to the way we approach the Christian life. Could there be times when we realize that, while we are doing so much for the Lord, the “noise” from all that we are doing has caused us to lose our ability to hear Him clearly? That was the problem with the Ephesian church in Revelation 2. Though they had labored and had cast out false apostles and had persevered through all the trials, Christ pointed out one major flaw: “you have left your first love.” They had done so much for God that they failed to spend time with God. Yes, we are to do His will, and that includes serving Him in many ways. But there are so many things that are “right” and so many ways to “serve the Lord” that we need to be careful not to get caught up in serving for service’s sake. The Lord reminds us that sometimes we are to just “be still, and know that I am God.” [Psalm 46:10]
I hope this does not discourage you from serving God in ways you feel He wants you to serve. Serving God in the right way is never a bad thing. But make sure that your first love stays in its rightful place. Please don’t let the noise of your works drown out the voice and leading of God. May we never mistake our work for God as a substitute for a relationship with Him!
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1 comment:
who did you eat dinner with?
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