I bet you can identify with the mom who wrote to me that her son is always asking her if they are going to do something fun. It’s hard, she explained, when you’re already spread thin emotionally, financially, etc., to come up with fun things to do, and then, as soon as you’ve finished one fun activity, to have your children want to know what fun thing you are going to do next.
I know I can certainly identify with her.
All of us have times when we are spread thin. Maybe our finances are tight this week, this month, or this year. Maybe we’ve been pouring ourselves out emotionally in so many different directions that there isn’t much left for us. Yet during those times, we still have to parent. When we’re too exhausted or stressed, we still have to think of things to do with our children.
So when we scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with something, and our kids barely finish it before they want to know what’s next, it’s hard.
Even when we’re not spread thin, and life is reasonably satisfactory for the time being, it’s still annoying to have our children ask what’s next before we’ve even had time to ask them how they liked the first bit of fun.
Most of us have had this happen to us, at least once or twice. We know how exasperating it can be.
How much more exasperated, then, must Jesus have felt when the people around Him were always seeking a miracle?
We know how He felt. You’re not coming to me for my teaching, He told them. You’re coming for the miracles. In other words, He was saying, Look, I know you just want to be entertained. You don’t want me. You want the show.
Are we the same way? Do we demand that God always put on a show to keep us entertained? Do we complain when Christianity gets “boring” and we have to exercise some discipline to keep following through with prayer, reading the Bible, or going to church?
What is it we’re expecting from our relationship with God, anyway?
Far too often, we’re not seeking God Himself. We’re seeking how following Him makes us feel.
Please don’t misunderstand me. Living in relationship with God certainly can be exciting. It’s often new, as when He teaches us something. It’s fine to enjoy the mountaintop experiences when we have them. In fact, we should enjoy them. But if we are seeking the experience rather than seeking God, we have made an idol of our emotions and relegated God to second place or even further down the list.
Precious mommy, are you seeking God Himself, or are you seeking the fun? Where is your focus?
I pray that you and I both will walk closely with Him and keep our eyes on Him. I pray that even the most wonderful or the most terrible things that happen to us will not be enough to cause us to take our eyes off of God and focus on the experience.
But it’s hard. So I suggest you do the same thing I am going to do. Pray. Ask God to keep your focus on Him, where it belongs, and to convict you when it slips. Confess your lack of proper focus. Acknowledge His worthiness as the supreme Person upon Whom we should fix our eyes, and praise Him.
See? Your focus is back where it belongs. Rely on Him to help you keep it there.
2 Corinthians 4:18— So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Hebrews 12:2—Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.