Presents of God

"Hours for the world! Moments for Christ! The world has the best, and our closet the
parings of our time. We give our strength and freshness to the ways of mammon, and
our fatigue and languor to the ways of God."

He uses two outdated words here. Mammon, which means great wealth, and languor, which means fatigued to the point of collapse.

Jesus wasn't just born to die, he came to live. His preparations and labors over years and years weren't a preparation for his death, they were a preparation for life.

Jesus was the master of not allowing the present supersede eternity, while simultaneously glorifying each hour and minute of the day. Glory means giving the full substance and weight of who God is, consequently who Jesus is. Substance is defined though our wholeness in Christ, who is complete, fulfilling and developed. When we entangle ourselves wholly in the emotions of the moment, we often fail to recognize the scope of his glory as it relates to us. We recognize only the small and mundane, and miss the weightier presence of glory.

This causes two fallouts within ourselves. First, It distracts from us being the conduits of God that we were intended to be. What weight can we carry, what path can we follow without the sight of his horizon? The second thing it does is it segue's praises of God back to the hearts of men. We are granted ownership of things we do create without attributing to him to who credit is due. And we spend countless hours trying to make calculations on life that we do not have the capacity for. The only one who has that kind of time, and perspective, is the king.

"And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” (1 Peter 1:17 NLT)"

Spurgeon is trying to put our pursuits on it's proper scope. We aren't foreigners in this land, yet we treat earth as if it is our permanent home. While we speak of proudly and boastfully about our pursuit of God, the soles of our shoes are barely worn.

I don't adjust well to seasonal changes in my life. I tend to dwell too long in the decision phase, and miss opportunities for real growth. My prayers this week are about steering towards eternal things, not towards the temporary.