This is from my quiet time today. Thought I’d share. I read through the OT, the Gospels and the NT – all three. So each day I get a little of each, but the mixing can be quite random. It’s often interesting to put them together and see the message of the Big Picture.

Neh 4:13 “From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows, and armour.”

Jerusalem was broken, burned out and shaken apart. Foreign kings ruled over it. Nehemiah and a few others were trying to rebuild its wall, but powerful people didn’t want it to succeed.

Mark 4:3 “A farmer went out to sow his seed.” -and only some fell on good soil and thrived. All the rest died.

The seed is the word of God. It has the power of Life itself in it, but powerful things don’t want it to grow.

I Cor 7:29 “What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.”

This powerful world has an expiry date.

Whatever the thing – whoever the person – I am distracted by, I need to see past them to the life that is coming. Or maybe I need to see through them. See the coming kingdom light as it shines in and over the distracting thing or person. See them with God’s own perspective.

I need to see this world by the light of the one that is coming.

And then live into that.

It’s not easy.

All the forces of hell and my own fallen self fight it.

All the deceitfulness of wealth, all the cares of this world, all the enemies of the kingdom try to stop the work of God in me.

But what is my help from today’s passages?

• If I have to be less productive in order to be more protective of God’s work, so be it.
• God’s work is to grow his own life in me, and his word is the seed of that life.
• The battle may be fierce but it is timed, and the timer is ticking.

Prayer:

Father, thank you that I do not need to be dismayed by my weakness, or by the strength of the enemy. His days are numbered, and mine are not. Teach me how to see, and how to live, by your light as you grow your life in me. Give me strength – and wisdom – for the battle. Amen.