Matthew 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."
Hebrews 12:1-2 "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus..."
INTRO
I believe every one of us should live with a 'fire' inside of us for the Lord (Rev 3:16). But very few of us do. And of those that do, probably very few keep that fire (zealous passion and love for God) burning consistently.
Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us that we're running a race after Jesus, and that we cannot run without casting aside our sin (We cannot seek the Lord without dying to all our sins we are aware of, and truly repenting of them. We would be seeking God where He can't be found). But then it also says: "lay aside every encumbrance [hindrance/distraction]."
A MISER WITH OUR PASSIONS
I remember hearing someone talking about a godly man they knew, and they said of him, he was a "miser with his time." I've always heard the word 'miser' used in a bad sense. But I was surprised to hear this was used in a good sense. This man was admiring how carefully this other brother used his time for the Lord, and he was so strict with it that he almost selfishly didn't let other things into his time, lest they crowd out his time for the Lord.
The Lord brought to my mind that in the same way as this man was a 'miser' with his time (so that he could preserve it for Christ), I could be a 'miser' with my desires and affections (so that I can preserve them completely for Christ)! The Lord can help me to have a heart completely taken up for Him!
Prov 4:23 "Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life."
My 'heart' is all of my thoughts, and desires, and affections. A characteristic of people on fire for God is that they would be a 'miser' (careful) with their affections, not saving so much space in their heart for this lower world, but for God Himself, and for other people. God can give us this fire in our heart.
Matt 22:37 And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' 22:38 "This is the great and foremost commandment. 22:39 "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
A PERSONAL STRUGGLE
I've struggled over the years to keep my desires completely for the Lord, and to be more passionate for Him. It has usually been up and down, but I'm thankful that the Lord has helped my zeal to grow, over time interest in the world getting lesser, and growing more in excitement to live for Him. As I think back as to what's helped grow my desire for Him, I have found that primarily two things have helped:
1. Seeing the life of others who were filled with the Holy Spirit, and with a fire for God. A Spirit filled person is a whole-hearted person. A Spirit-filled person is a single-minded person for the Lord. When I see people filled with the Spirit who seem to have no other interest outside of the Lord, this stirs me so much because it's a taste of what Jesus' life looked like, and it's a glimpse of what a heavenly life is, while here on this earth. And it challenges me to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, because His is the only fire that is real and can really last.
And secondly:
2. Being serious about resigning myself from sin and distractions, for the sake of God being everything.
"Let us also lay aside every encumbrance (hindrance) and the sin which so easily entangles us"
The Bible urges us to secure an undistracted devotion (1 Cor 7:35, 2 Cor 11:3) to Jesus.
WHAT IS DEVOTION?
I've learned to define 'Devotion' for myself personally like this: "God and Jesus is all that matters to you."
A husband is devoted to his wife, and no other woman. Olympians are devoted to their sport. Top musicians are devoted to their instrument. Devotion means; giving yourself completely to something - ONE thing (singular).
I remember hearing of a top piano player, when someone asked her how much she practiced, she replied, "I don't know. I just do it all the time." That's the life of a devoted person. They are so taken up with one thing that, they really can't put a number on how much that thing means to them - they are constant with it, and not distracted with 'other' things which take up their concerns.
There's no competition in the heart of devotion.
AN EXAMPLE
I was blessed by seeing a brother in Christ go through a trial, and he called me one time saying he had a question for me. I immediately assumed his question would be about this trial. But it wasn't. It was about finding God's will in a situation for his life, he wanted some opinion about that, and it had nothing to do with this trial. I saw that he was focused on doing God's will, not on his own problems. I was so blessed by that! It was an example to me of "undistracted" devotion.
I didn't hear complaining, or constant talk about his struggle. He was very 'forward-looking', fixed on seeking the Lord and His will... not on solving every problem that comes. I'm challenged by his example.
We can focus on many things in life, but we are finite and limited beings. We only have so much room in our hearts. And Jesus urged people to be consumed with really only 1 thing:
Luke 10:41 "...you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary..."
I've had many 'lawful' interests over the years outside of Christ. They weren't sin. But I found I had a tendency to go overboard to the point where they were taking up excessive mind-space. Attention. Desire. Time.
It’s good for young people to be active and have interests. Kids need to play. But as we mature, priorities start to change. The primary characteristic of maturity is it puts priorities in the right places.
I felt God say to my heart: "You know what's valuable. It's time in your life to focus completely on Me".
THE MOTIVATION
Over a couple of decades, many times I've tried resigning myself from the outward distractions, and I've found myself failing and falling back into complacency in my seeking of God. I wondered why I always seemed to go backwards, But then I discovered it wasn't until I finally decided - God is the only thing really important. And nothing else comes close. So that's why I want to be eager to cast off all hindrances.
It was the motivation for my resigning that was the issue all those years.
It is still a fight, but I've genuinely seen that as I proceed to try to die to distractions for the sake of living for God alone with this one life I have, some amazing things happen:
THE BLESSINGS OF GIVING UP DISTRACTIONS
1. Our desires change.
As junk food ruins the taste buds for healthy food, I saw that my distractions were keeping my desire for the Lord and profitable things down at a lower level.
As I tried to cut down or remove many distractions, I found that my desire to spend more time with the Lord grew, and be in the Word more. I had more desire for profitable things. It wasn't so much of a chore anymore to do them, but I actually started being eager and excited to do them.
2. We will begin to value time with PEOPLE more, and time with THINGS less.
My definition of “Fun” Changed.
I started enjoy fellowship with my family in the Lord much more. To be more excited to talk of the things of God.
As Rebekah must have been excited to ask about Isaac on the way, You can tell when someone has this heart of devotion because their ears perk up with excitement when someone starts to talk of their Savior and things concerning Him!
3. Our time will become more productive with profitable things.
I had more free time after giving up some things that choked my time and energy and so I found myself with time to meet needs which I was neglecting before, for example - helping more with chores around the house that needed to be done. Or Being faithful with time at work, helping the kids with things they need, being available for others.
4. We will experience more peace throughout the day, overcoming anxiousness and irritation.
I became less irritated by interruptions, less anxious to jump here and there doing many things.
I saw that - when my hand was clutching something I wanted to do, I would get irritated when that was interrupted. But when I consciously fought to die to the desire to chase 'endlessly' my own plans for what I thought would give me rest and satisfaction, I started being ok with my time being taken up with other things.
My habit of grabbing my phone every free second went down. It's still a fight sometimes, but it went significantly down from what it was. I had less interest in watching pointless things.
I was more diligent in my secular work because there was less temptation to take the time I should be spending on that with internet consumption and other things.
5. Thinking about good things becomes easier
The Bible says, "...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." (Php 4:8)
I've often found this so hard. The Bible says, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind”, but how do we do it?! How do we control our thought life?
We reap what we sow.
Our thoughts are in large-part results of what we've been absorbing ourselves in recently.
I saw that the more we absorb ourself in good things like Scripture, and in fellowship, and seeking the Lord (and less in distraction) our mind is transformed. But the barrier to these things is often: distraction.
Our mind is totally transformed and freed from the constant pressure of chasing after pleasure, and it's freed from the 'rat race' and mess of this world's concerns when I seek the Lord to help me cast off hindrances and run the race after Jesus.
SERVING SELF IS EXHAUSTING
"Self" is a very hard task-master! It will consume us to the point where we are exhausted, from all the focus in our mind on ourselves. That's why Jesus urged us, "Come to Me... All who are weary [tired of yourselves!]..." (Matt 11:28)
Lot and his family were saved, but his wife didn't decide completely that following the Lord was worth everything. She turned back to look (with longing) at the world she was giving up, and she was turned into a pillar of salt (Gen 19:26) - salt, which is totally void of life.
As long as we look with longing toward things outside of Christ, how can the Lord put His life in us?
We have to decide: I'm tired of being more excited for relaxation than running after Christ! I'm tired of being more excited for so many other things than to spend time with Jesus! I want to have a fire in my heart for the Lord that doesn't die out and it consumes everything else!
I have found these things will happen powerfully if we're serious to put the Lord first in our life.
But it starts with making the decision: "Lord I want you. I don't want anything else." It's an act of the will that the Lord will take us seriously on. He will help us to do it if we are serious.
Php 2:12 "..work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work [put HIS desires in you] for His good pleasure."
THERE'S NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
As much as it may be a hard thought to die to certain things, I've found: I’m not missing out on much if I give up the distractions of earth for the sake of being more single-minded for Jesus. It's like jumping in a cold swimming pool - at first, it's a bit of a shock, but after a minute we feel, "this isn't so bad!"
A brother recently pointed out to me that many of the things which distract us really add no value to our life... they are just the same thing over and over. And I thought about some of things that distract me and and saw it’s so true (for at least many of them) - Much of the news is the same political drama and crime stories over and over. Satan wants us to keep us in a perpetual state of 'fretting' of all the chaos going on in the world, as if God were not in control. There's no end to it!
A sports game - win lose win lose win lose, ball goes in, ball misses, people and teams win and lose in an endless circle, the glory of trophies fades by the next season. Watching the bank accounts go up and down with the stock markets, wondering about our kids' future. Time consuming YouTube channels - one video is basically repeated in the same format with similar ideas over and over. Sleep, wake up, eat drink, over and over. “There’s nothing new under the sun." (Eccl 1:9)
It's not that all these things are evil. God gives us liberty. I believe in enjoying (1 Tim 4:4, 6:17) sports, and hobbies, music, being aware (generally) of what's going on in the world, a clean and interesting Youtube channel, etc - especially if we enjoy it with other people (I think it actually can be really profitable that way! I'm thankful to enjoy these things with my beloved wife and children). These things can be good. It's just that: Matthew 6:21 “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The question is WHY do I do what I do? And what really drives me? What stirs me? And if I'm stirred by 'other' things outside of Christ more than Him, do I want to be different? Am I willing to pay the cost of 'letting go'?
Yes, very few of us live with a fire in our heart for the Lord consistently.
But the Lord has opened my eyes - it's a waste of a life to live any other way, and it's possible to rise above the rat race. We have to come to the Lord seriously and say, "Lord, I don't want to be satisfied with such dull passion for you! What else matters?! Nothing else matters but You!"
There is a glorious freedom, a life of passionate zealous joy and excitement in the Lord and rest for one who is serious to resign themselves, and make a decision: "Lord, You're everything. I'm deciding that nothing else is important. But I need your strength now to live this. Fill me, overflowing with your Spirit for this!!!"
Proverbs 14:14 The backslider gets bored with himself; the godly man’s life is exciting. (TLB)
"Farewell, vain world; my soul can bid Adieu.
My Savior taught me to abandon you.
Your charms may gratify a sensual mind.
But cannot please a soul for God Designed.
"Forbear t' entice; cease then my soul to call;
Tis fixed through grace; my God shall be my all.
"While he thus lets me heavenly glories view,
"Your beauties fade, my heart's no room for you." - David Brainerd