A Divine diversion?

hob·by – an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation So what's your hobby? Please don't say watching TV or playing video games... sorry, that just couldn't be helped! For many people, TV watching consumes the largest percentage of their leisure time. TV's are on in the average US household for 8 hours of each day, with the average person watching about 4.5 hours a day. TV is a diversion, but it certainly does not qualify as a real hobby. A real hobby adds value to our lives by giving us a creative outlet, by connecting us to other people, and/or by helping us develop new skills. I hope you've got one! You're probably wondering where I am going with this line of thought, don't you?

Here it is - I get impression that to many people God is a kind of hobby, a diversion, but not really the main thing in their lives. For those for whom God is a divine diversion, He is placed down the list of priorities of activities not at the top. He gets a donation from money that is left over after 'real needs' have been addressed. His work fills in the gaps in the day planner, after the 'real work' is finished - as a hobby ought to, but as He never should. It's an old, yes even ancient, problem among us humans. We tend to forget that we are spiritual beings first and foremost, that our physical bodies are dying, that things of this world that we love are subject to decay. We begin to worship ourselves, our bodies, our achievements, our stuff even as we play at spiritual matters such as worshipping God and using the gifts of the Spirit to serve others in His Name.

The Lord God desires that our entire life be oriented around Him. The Bible tells us to "Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father." (Colossians 3:16-17, NLT) What does that really mean to us? Everything!

As I go to work today, I must ask myself, "Am I going to do God's work or to simply earn a living?" How I answer that question will make a difference in the way I work.

When I am making decisions about spending the resources I have, I must ask, "will it be as one who understands that I am managing a sacred trust or as an American consumer looking for a way to buy more stuff?"

As a parent I can seek to live in such a way that my children are God-aware and I can help them to understand that serving Christ wholeheartedly is their primary purpose; or I can focus on developing their social skills and education with such focus, that they conclude that success in this temporal world is their reason for living.

If God is a hobby, you'll go off to work today and forget that He even exists until you get home or perhaps even until next Sunday rolls around... if you're not too exhausted from your Saturday activities to attend church.

If God is a hobby, you won't take the first 10% of your income to build His kingdom and serve those in need, you will wait and see if there's anything left over before you put Him in your spending plan.

If God is a hobby, you will raise children who "worship their play, and play at their worship!"

In the last book of the Old Testament, a prophet named Malachi received a word from God for His people. Seems that the Jews were being blessed, but they were forgetting Who was blessing them. God was playing second fiddle to their own desires and plans. He was getting the left-overs and He was angered by this kind of treatment.
He said, “I am honored all over the world. And there are people who know how to worship me all over the world, who honor me by bringing their best to me. They’re saying it everywhere: ‘God is greater, this God-of-the-Angel-Armies.’ “All except you. Instead of honoring me, you profane me.
You profane me when you say, ‘Worship is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,’ and when you say, ‘I’m bored—this doesn’t do anything for me.’ You act so superior, sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
And when you do offer something to me, it’s a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I’m going to accept it? This is God speaking to you! “A curse on the person who makes a big show of doing something great for me—an expensive sacrifice, say—and then at the last minute brings in something puny and worthless! I’m a great king, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, honored far and wide, and I’ll not put up with it!"

A 'hobby' God is unable to meet our deepest needs. That is a reason that so many Christians are unfulfilled spiritually! The One who could give them purpose, steady them on their way, and be the Center for their being is pushed to one side, leaving them unbalanced and out of focus. Because they are neither 'of this world,' nor fully devoted to Christ, life is confusing; they are conflicted and without the joy of the Lord. The answer, for many, is to look for a new spiritual experience, to go here and there in search of inspiring sermon or an exhilarating worship service. However, the real answer is not a 'what' nor is is a 'where.' Satisfaction of soul hunger is only found in a whole-hearted commitment. When they choose to make Him Lord of all, they find that He is more than enough!

I leave us pondering this word from the Word today. Mediate deeply on it! "... do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the (those without God) seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:31-33, NKJV)
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