I’m going to confess: if I had NOT been up in time to see the sun like a fire in the sky today, I would have thought the sun didn’t come up at all. It’s been dreary and very “winter like”, with the clouds covering the beauty of a late fall blue in the sky that happens only in November. As I ran around town visiting with various local ministries, I couldn’t help but notice that it was just grey and dark everywhere I looked.
But then…I remembered this morning. I remembered the fiery sunrise, and how the sun DID rise this morning and that the light was there whether I could see it in that moment or not. The trick for me was to stay close to the truth—the truth that the sun did show up and that the glow was real. The sun is STILL there—that is a fact and a fact I can rely on.
“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” —Hebrews 2.1
Just like I had drifted away from the truth of the sun having arisen this morning, so the truth of God (even though it is real, true, and secure in and of itself) is something that we all have to keep close. We are always susceptible to the lies of the devil and this world. What is real for each of us is what we keep close to us. If you want lies to be true, then keep them close and feed off them. But if you want a truth that sets you free and transforms you from the inside out, then stay close to God and His eternal truth.
Yes, it is hard to pay attention today. Our daily experience is filled with innumerable distractions. But the cure for that is simplification. If we will self-limit, allowing only certain things into our lives, we can choose with much greater ease the things that matter. If God matters to you today—if you love Him and believe that you need Him “every hour” (as the hymn says), then limit the distractions, and fill your heart, mind, soul, and strength with God’s truth. As the text says, “pay much closer attention to what we have heard,” and remember the fire in the sky in your dreariest moments!
—Pastor Whit