Why I Need God Every Day
What if I offered you $100 if you promised to spend it this week? Would you take it? My guess is probably so. Well, what about this? You could have $100 now to be spent in a week or you could have $100,000,000 to be spent over a lifetime if you wait six months. Which one would you choose?
I know I would much rather have the $100,000,000 to spend over a lifetime than to have just a measly $100 to be spent in a week. My guess is that you would answer as I would even if it meant a bit of delay in receiving the funds.
Now, you might be thinking that such a choice would never come to you. Yet, truly we are confronted with such choices every single day. Each day, we encounter choices that pit the temporary against the eternal. That is, choices which pit what really isn’t worth too much versus what is of infinite value.
It is true that if we chose the $100, it would be in our hands immediately. But the problem with the $100 is that it’s really not all that much money. Once handed the $100, it wouldn’t take too long before it was spent and we were in search of the next $100.
It is the same in a spiritual sense. When we seek the things of the world, we find them to be very fleeting. Like an energy drink that surges us with vitality only to leave us crashing three hours later. See a two-hour movie that does not please God, watch a TV show for a half-hour fix, fill the car with secular songs that glorify what God despises, or surf the tawdry side of the web for a rush of lust, it all leaves us empty in the end. We simply end up craving more to fill an emptiness in our hearts.
Satan works desperately to attract us with the now. He will pummel us with daily distractions. Work, play, sports, hobbies, movies, music, TV, the internet, the list goes on and on. He will use these “$100 things of life” to take our hearts and minds away from what matters most: That $100,000,000 prize—Eternal God and His kingdom.
When that happens what message do our children, our grandchildren, our neighbors, our classmates, or our co-workers receive as we constantly go back for the $100? “The world is where I get my satisfaction.” “TV is where I go to feel better when I’ve had a rough day.” These are empty messages that leave us, and those around us, feeling unfulfilled and always searching.
Choosing God is the only way to experience real fulfillment. True, choosing God often means having to wait to reap the benefits, but aren’t they worth the wait?
This is why daily time with God is so vital to our spiritual health. Without daily reminders of what truly matters in life, it is all too easy to follow after all the temporary pleasures of this life. We all could learn a lesson from Moses.
Moses chose to share the oppression of God's people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of the Messiah than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the great reward that God would give him. ~ Hebrews 11:25,26
