Today is…

a fine day for listening only to God.

“But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.”  Psalm 1:2 NLT

Having a close relationship with God will have a profound impact on our lives.

The way we think; the way we view things; our feelings towards those around us: All of these things change in beautiful ways when we become closer to Him. We “listen” to God by reading the Holy Bible and searching it for the wisdom and instruction it holds. Then, as we read His Word we need to meditate on how it all relates to us. Thinking about everything we read will help us to determine how we are to apply its wisdom to our daily lives.

The more time we spend thinking about God and “listening” to His Word, the more we will understand how much we want to change. We also “listen” to the written Word of God by opening our hearts as well as our minds. God’s laws are not complicated, nor are they unreasonable. They do, however, require adjustments in our attitudes, thoughts, and actions. We may find that we have to reject certain things that we enjoyed doing, but if that is the case God will help us find other pursuits to replace those things. Those new pursuits will have value to our fellow man, as well as to our loved ones and to ourselves.

In many instances, the more “successful” we become, the less we feel we need to rely on God. Quite the reverse is true, for it is then that we need to rely on Him to show us how to use our success for the benefit of others.

One needs only to look around to see that many, many so-called “successful” people do not listen to what God tries to tell them. The evidence is in the ostentatious lifestyles and the vulgar displays of wasted wealth that are paraded before our eyes daily. No human being needs a 50,000 square foot home in which to live comfortably – and many people have more than one.

Yet so many of God’s children have no roof over their heads at all.

God has nothing against people enjoying their success. Indeed, the abilities and talents they possess which enable them to become wealthy in the first place came from God. He just wants us to listen to Him, and as Paul instructed Timothy in how to deal with the rich, “Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.” (1 Timothy 6:18 NLT).

Rich or poor, or somewhere in between, God has instructions and wisdom for us, and some rules to live by. We would all do well to listen to what He has to say, today and everyday.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson