Many years ago, I remember making choices that significantly impacted my Christian walk. There were times when I decided to attend a party and skipped attending church the next day. Or other times when I was so easily convinced to ditch my bible study to attend an outing with friends. I found that the more I continued to behave in that manner, the easier it became to neglect the very things that would aid my spiritual growth.
It wasn't until months later that I realised how much I had compromised my spiritual growth. I had stepped so far away from God that I was making such inappropriate decisions.
Why do we easily succumb to replacing those things that involve God? We effortlessly spend hours watching television, but spend little or no time reading the word of God? Making extra cash suddenly becomes more important that attending church on Sunday. As Christians, shouldn't God be our number one priority? Just as the sun is the centre of the solar system with the planets revolving around it, shouldn't God be the centre of our lives? With us revolving around Him, and not the other way round?
I believe that the one thing I had to do in order to get closer to God was to make the conscious effort to place God first in my life. Christians are called to live a life that is pleasing to God (2 Corinthians 5 verse 9). We are so privileged to have the bible to obtain guidance in our daily living.
When I came to the realisation that my spiritual life was lacking, I asked myself how I expected to grow in the knowledge of God if I didn't make the effort to read His word or spend time in prayer. These are some of the most instrumental things that need to be done to get closer to Him. If God is truly the centre of my life, then why only give Him my second best?
Matthew 7 verse 33 says "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Putting God first means we choose to live by His principles. It means choosing to resist the temptation to exclude the very things that will help our spiritual growth such as prayer, bible study, meditating on God's word or serving Him in church. In so doing, God will provide for all our needs. We need not worry about material things but place our trust in God to be our provider.
We live in a society that values material possessions and earthly pleasures over that which is eternal. We are continuously bombarded with messages that promote greed, lust and self-centredness. When we lose our focus and let the desires of our flesh get in the way, our relationship with God suffers.
We so often forget that we are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6 verse 12). The devil knows our weaknesses and he will use anything he can to distract us from our relationship with God. The question is: are we going to allow such things to strain the relationship we have with God? Or are we going to draw even closer to God and allow Him to speak into lives?
I remember the day I chose to accept Jesus Christ into my life - it was an amazing life changing experience. Now that I have experienced the joy that only Christ can bring, I couldn't imagine a life without Him. My prayer today is that I continue to seek God in everything and that I have such a passion for him that I wouldn't want to place anything else above Him.
With God's help, I desire to make every effort to live a life according to His word. Not letting myself conform to the pattern of this corrupt world, but truly allowing God to be the centre of my life.
"Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you" (Psalm 9 verse 10)
Kandima Awendila was born in ambique and lives and works as an IT Service Desk Engineer on the Gold Coast.
Kandi Awendila's archive of articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/kandima-awendila.html