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Hindrances on the Pathway to God's Presence (Part 4)

This is a continuation from a devotional (Hebrews 2:1-4) in A.W. Tozer's, "Experiencing the Presence of God."  These next sections are more details on the curses of our contemporary culture.

Giving God Leftovers
Far too often, Christians become too preoccupied with making a living, or handling the "cares of the world" as Jesus put it.  When people look at you, what do they know you as?  Do people always see you as a nurse, a banker, a mechanic, a teacher?  Most people are identified by their occupation, or role in the community, but that's not all that we are.  Imagine what the impact on the world would be if everyone put near that effort into seeking God as we do making a living.  The world would be forced to take notice of the difference in people's lives.

But sadly, the fact is that we give God leftovers, never the main meal.  He doesn't get anything new, only the hand-me-downs.  But we don't have to give God our spare time or our leftovers.  We can focus on our spiritual lives, we must!  If you put an emphasis on your spiritual life, you will find time to work, clean the house, cook meals, etc.  But we must make our spirit a priority.

Constantly Seeking After Pleasure
There are all kinds of pleasures in this world.  We have physical pleasures, which come from comforts, various vices, food, etc.; mental pleasures such as social enjoyment, amusements, reading fiction; aesthetic pleasures like art, music, higher learning, and sophisticated culture.  There's nothing wrong with the pleasures listed here, and some of them are fine to enjoy.  But at the end of the day, all of these give us the same pleasing sensation that a baby gets by sucking its thumb.  "The whole human race has simply grown up seeking pleasure so that we are a race of grownup thumb-suckers" - A.W. Tozer.  We allow ourselves to focus on experiencing these pleasing sensations instead of advancing our souls.

Acts 2:40 reads, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation."  The church cannot continue to seek to be more and more like the world.  We cannot neglect God and pursue the same pleasures the world does.  We should be the example, the ones seriously pursuing God.  We may not take our soul seriously, but God did.  God the Father was serious when he planned and accomplished redemption.  God the Son, Jesus, was serious when he sweated drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane.  God the Holy Spirit is serious when he comes to dwell in the hearts of men.

"Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it" - Hebrews 2:1.  What are you spending most of your time and energy on, things that make you feel good and happy?  Or on pursuing a closer relationship with our Lord?

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