The wicked strut about on every side
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men. Psalm 12:8 NASB
When I read that verse Thursday morning, the first thought I had was of conflicts we are hearing about around the world. I don’t care what your opinion is on the conflict; wickedness struts about ON EVERY SIDE.
It’s just ugly.
I was quickly admonished though, for thinking beyond my own house. Why? Because, vileness sneaks in here too. The ugly nests in our television wires and internet cables. It cools itself in the refrigerator and burrows into the pillows on my couch. Vileness is a beast of burden that lies about it’s weight and insists that it’s only looking out for my best interest.
What is the culprit here? Anything really. Anything that divides me from what’s best. Anything that distracts, tempts and entices me to leave off doing good…
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” -Edmund Burke
I realized Friday morning that my problem wasn’t the choices I was making in regard to what I spend my time on, instead, my issue is in my doing nothing to direct my time effectively.
See, I have begun again and again to create a calendar for myself, a “time budget” as I like to call it, but things keep changing and I have to re-arrange for school, then summer, then back problems, then travel and I have left off trying to follow anything but how I feel at the moment lately. I’m pretty sure that’s not productive.
Today, I commit to purposefully directing my year, my month, my week and my day…again. Today, I’m going to do it with a better perspective on the importance though.
It isn’t the daily choices I make that are making my days ineffective. It’s the cumulative choices I make that are making my life ineffective.
You may think me extreme to call this vile. I might think the same if I heard someone else say it. Yet, I see the gap in where I am and where I know I could be and it wreaks of exalting the moments I’m in, instead of the vision of the Kingdom of God.
When I exalt anything that is not the direction God desires for me, it is nothing more than vile. Not because it is sinful or depraved, but because it is not what is best. It is not so important that I am at my best for my own sake, but rather, that I am not hindering a flow of powerful influence that God could be doing through me were I more often at the ready.
I love what I get to do with my mom’s group on Thursday morning. I truly believe I’m in a perfectly fitted spot with these ladies, and God moved me there. I love what I get to do as a “coach” to some of our life group leaders at church, I love even more the privilege of raising Owen, Ivan and Aron, and I am beyond honored to be serving Kris as his wife.
I do not pretend that I need more to do. What I know more than anyone else, is that I have not fully realized a fully ordered flow of God’s influence in each of these areas.
I am a part of another’s life only for a time, and only to offer them more of Christ.
So my question is, what am I exalting in these areas? What am I proving in the moments I have? Am I slow to respond, am I quick to avoid, am I tardy and absent minded in my responsibilities? If I say yes, then I am exalting my feelings instead of my faith, and giving an open invitation for wickedness to strut it’s stuff in the ministries and relationships I am part of.
Today, I challenge myself to be alert (1 Peter 5:8), be ready (2 Timothy 4:2), be full of the Spirit (Exodus 31:3) and to seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).
“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21