WHEN THE TREADMILL STOPS

If there was ever a message we needed for this time, this would have to be it. We are usually so busy, distracted, disconnected, often unable to sit still in the middle of all the noise and activity surrounding us. As we are all forced into a confinement routine, it’s a great time to reflect on what we’ve been involved in, how we’ve scheduled our lives and what have been our priorities.

For many people, every day is a race, they have to run and even sprint, and they are exhausted. Even at 60 – 70 years old, some are still running. Working is not a bad thing, hard work is good, but there needs to be a balance in our lives. It cannot be all about efficiency and achievement, making money or even surviving, to the detriment of a deep relationship with God.  We cannot go on running all the time, feeling like spending time with God is a waste of time.

When God made Adam and Eve, they walked with Him in the garden and this is what you and I were designed for, to have this deep walk with our Creator. But Adam and Eve wanted to do their own thing, they wanted independence, and many of us have that same tendency: we want to control our lives, we don’t want to spend our time in this intimacy with God, we have more important things to do.

James 4: 13-15 tells us: Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

You think you are in control and you have plans, you are going to make money, and I bet in January you had projections for this year. How are these plans going nowadays?

Even when you try to control your life, you are not in control of everything. Right now many treadmills have come to a stop and it is driving some people crazy, they want to fix that machine and keep on running. One of the verses that is the most difficult to apply for people like that is Psalm 36:10:  “Be still and know that I am God.”

The 5^th verse of James 4 might be the most overwhelming truth to me in Scripture, it says: “He jealously longs for the spirit He has caused to dwell in us.” What? Are you telling me there is a God in Heaven, the all powerful Creator of Universe, and that He yearns jealously for me? Yes, God made us in such a way that our very spirit, the core of who we are, was designed to be deeply intertwined with His Spirit.

So take this time as an opportunity!  You have a loving Father in Heaven, the Creator of all things, the One who can decide whether or not you keep breathing for the rest of the day.  And He wants you! Don’t tell Him: “No! I have got something better to do!” Take this moment as a gift, as a time to reflect upon your life and reassess your priorities.

Make sure you’re spending time with Him, because to live your best life, you need your Creator to be part of it. He will give you light and life in a world full of darkness and corruption, He will give you strength in place of your weakness, He will give you peace in spite of the shaking mountains and agitated waters.

Step away from that treadmill and enjoy the stillness.  Almighty God jealously yearns for you. May you know Him like never before.