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​Is Your Life Complicated?

Why don’t you have time to do what’s important?
Why is it so hard to make even the simple decisions?

In between running one child to music lessons and another to sports, you throw a meal at them until they can eat at home afterwards.
All of these things are important.
But are they essential?

We’ve talked about the importance of eating dinner as a family. (SORRY, CAN'T FIND THE LINK!)
Without it, we lose connection with our children and stability in our culture.
How do we eat as family yet maintain this schedule of pursuing their education and talents?

Consider Albert Einstein.
He did a lot of deep thinking.
But do you know what he wore every day?
He bought five suits that were exactly the same, even the color.
Why?
He didn’t want to waste time thinking about what was not important.
How much of your time is wasted every day on things that aren’t important?
How do you determine what is important?

Obeying the Bible Makes Life Simple.
(Not to be confused with easy.)
For example, the Bible says that God made man and woman.
We don’t have to choose what we are today.
God made us women.

God instilled marriage between one man and one woman for life.
We don’t have to choose between a woman or a man whom we should marry.
Or whether we should stay married.
God has already told us what to do.

Even when our spouse is not a Christian or isn’t living like he should.
God has already told us “till death do us part.”
We don’t have to figure out what we should do today.

God has already told us to seek Him.
We don’t have to figure out what we should do. 
God has a plan.
All we must do is obey.

Know why our lives get complicated?
Life gets complicated when we make decisions that aren't ours to make.
We don't listen to what God says.
We rebel against His commands. 

We want to decide whether we are a girl or boy today.
We want to decide whether we stay married today.
Maybe those things are obvious.
We don’t question those things.

But maybe we do….
Should we lead or will we follow?
What if our husbands don't lead in spiritual matters?
What if our husbands aren't so good with finances?
Does that make it right for us to take over?
As wives, we are made by God to help our husbands.
That means we submit to their needs.

Recently I’ve met several women who seemed to have good reasons for divorce.
After all, drugs do change a person’s mind and actions.
They become different.
Not at all the person they married.
How's a wife to submit to a drug addict who takes money from her children’s needs?

But God offers no exceptions (other than adultery because of the hardness of our hearts).
The choice is not ours to make. 
God tells us what to do.

Living with a drug addict is hard.
An angry person is unpredictable.
We want to make it easier.
But God says, “My grace is sufficient.”

One special couple comes to mind. 
They both were party people when they married.
She became a Christian, who devoutly followed God.
Her husband did not.
He wants her to continue their party life.
She can’t.
She wants him to go to church.
He won’t.
She has stayed with him for over thirty years.
Has he come to know Christ?
Not yet.
But he hasn’t left her.
The Bible speaks of staying with a non-believer until that non-believer choses to leave.

Is it easy?
Absolutely not!
But do you know what happens because that woman obeys God’s simple commands?
She becomes more like Christ.
She exudes a spirit that can only be explained by God’s power and grace.
And her husband is convicted.
God softens his heart.
We still pray he comes to accept Him.

Maybe you're not asking if your marriage should end.
Maybe you’re just asking why your life is so complicated?
Who do you serve?

What?
Who do you serve?
If you were in service to a king, your day would be directed by what he wants.
Everything you did would be dictated by him.

We DO serve a king.
Not just any king. THE KING of kings.
What we do should be directed by Him.

Examine everything you do.
Ask God if each thing is what you should be doing.
Don’t ask, “who would do it if you don’t?”
Good ministries at church should never be done by the wrong people.

Remember Mary and Martha?
Martha was busy getting the meal ready.
Mary was sitting at Jesus’s feet.
Why wouldn’t Mary help her?
Jesus rebuked Martha, not Mary.
Mary had chosen the better thing.
Not that eating was wrong.
But that worshipping Him was best.

Sometimes we get busy doing good things.
Worthwhile things.
Like music lessons for our child.
Or sports for our active son.
But have forsaken the more important things.
Do they know their Bible?
Are you reading it to them?

Children can grow up without special lessons.
But no child should ever grow up in a Christian home and not know Scripture.
That’s not the church’s responsibility.
That’s the parents’.

If the Bible is the answer to all life’s problems,
And IT IS.
And if the Bible is the only Absolute source of TRUTH,
And IT IS.
Then it should consume our lives and our family’s.

We as parents should see our responsibility to teach this to our children.
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he won’t depart from it.
He can’t depart from something that he doesn’t know.

When we take everything we do and lay it before God and ask Him if this is what we should be doing, He will tell us.
Each family will be different.
He has a different plan for each one.

What's more important than doing the Father’s business?
That’s what Jesus came to do.
Did Jesus ever hurry?
Was He ever frazzled to get to a meeting?
The Bible tells that He delayed going to see Lazarus when he was sick.
He slept in the storm-torn boat.
He spent hours in prayer.
But He never hurried.

What about all the plans to get there?
As moms, we remember the food. 
Our sons will be hungry before we reach our destination.
We must prepare.

Remember, the King not only tells us what we should be doing, but provides all we need.

It is His mission.
His resources.
His plan.
All we do is serve Him.

The Bible makes our lives simple.
We don’t have to decide who we are.
Or whether we stay married.
Or even what we will do.
The only thing we must decide today is Who we will serve.


Displaying 1 comment

Great article, something we need to be reminded of regularly. Jesus knows how many hours we have in a day and never asks us to do more than we are suppose to do, but only for Him. It's "our" extras that get us in trouble. Thanks for sharing these words.

I write about what matters...to you---
women, wives and moms---
about your family, faith and future.
I write about what's hard, what helps and what heals.
I show you how it's done. And not done.
I hold your hand as you find what matters to the Savior.
And let go of those things that mattered to you, but not to Him.
I write about what matters...to Him.
               Sonya Contreras

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Author of Biblical fiction, married to my best friend, and challenged by eight sons’ growing pains as I write about what matters.