To begin with, I will recap the story, which takes place in Matthew 25:14-30. The story begins with a master and three servants. The master is going away on a long journey and so he puts the servants in charge of the “talents”. To one he gives five, another two and to the final servant he gives one, “every man according to his ability” (Matthew 25:15). The master went on his way and the servants were left to do what they would with their talents. The first (with five talents) works and doubles it. The second follows suit. However, the last servant simply hid his talent in the ground. When the master came back he was pleased with the two who had doubled theirs, but he was angry with the one who had simply hidden his.

The correlation which so plainly developed in my mind upon reading this parable is this: where have I invested the talents God has given me? Do I take time to further them? Am I working towards the increase in them? I have found myself in this quandary more than once before; I have the option of developing a musical, writing, scholastic, or spiritual talent… or to fritter my time away gaming or watching videos. I have the option to further myself and increase the assets I have for the kingdom of God… or just take the easy way out.

I have been endeavoring of late to stop taking the easy way out and instead invest in the talents God has given me. Perhaps I’m not always successful, but I’m still trying. I encourage you to do the same, or if you’re already developing the talents God has given you, to continue developing them toward the vision God has for your life.

Even focusing on things such as the path that God wanted me to take would break my attention away from God. This in itself didn’t catch my attention until I started seeing myself worry about what I was supposed to do, who I was supposed to be, or what I was being made into. I had to realize that those things weren’t for me to control or think about. So many times we worry about where we’re going, who we’re going to marry, where we’re going to work, what kind of ministry we will have, or how we will buy a new car — instead of focusing on Jesus. That’s what this article is truly about: Jesus becoming our main focus. Why do we constantly worry about who we’re going to be with for the rest of our lives when Jesus is making us into who we need to be for the rest of our lives? Why do we worry about our job when God is molding us into a better worker?

When Jesus becomes the very center of our lives, everything else can fall into place because we’re not trying to doing it in our own power. And why would we try to do these things in our own power? When we try to do that we just mess things up.

I believe that Jesus will become the center of our lives when we can be fully stripped of all our “strengths” hopes and desires. So many times people tell us to “be strong” or “toughen up,” when Jesus really wants us to become broken before Him. When we become broken before Him we become pliable. And what better time for God to mold our lives into the way that he wants us to be than at that time? To let Jesus become the center of our lives we first need to become broken. At that time we lay every fear, every doubt, and every dream down at His feet. At that point we are showing God “we trust you with everything in our lives and we’re not going to worry about any of it because it’s all in your hands”. That is perfect trust, and I guarantee that is when you will see your life unfold.

So stop worrying about your life. Stop letting “that special someone,” where you will work, or who you are becoming be the center of your life and try and let God become the very center. Who better to revolve your world around? He’s God. And I know He is able to take care of you. Let God be God.

So often I wait to worship God until I feel that I have a good reason to. Somehow I feel like I can’t worship Him until He blesses me in some way above and beyond the ordinary.  I sit there with less-than-enthusiastic worship until He touches me. The missing realization in my attitude is that the very fact that I am allowed to be in the presence of the Almighty should put me in awe. By simply being who He is, God gives me reason to praise Him.

As I tried to worship, I realized I was thinking about the problems in my life — focusing on myself instead of on God. How could I worship God and still be focused on myself? I purposed in my mind that I would focus completely upon God, making Him first in my mind. For that moment, I even allowed myself to forget about all of the complications in my life. Things I couldn’t control were stealing the joy from my worship, and I had been letting them do this by paying so much attention to them. These distractions take the hope out of life that comes from keeping my eyes on the Creator.

Soon after taking the time to refocus on God and allowing all the problems to melt away, God brought a familiar Bible verse to mind. The verse is Psalms 100:4, which says to “enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.” Too often I come into God’s presence weighted down by the cares of life, forgetting to come into His courts with thanksgiving and praise. Too often I forget the joy of His salvation and must work my way back to it. It’s a joy to serve God – but it’s easy to lose sight of that.

Another thing to remember is that God is good no matter what. God is deserving of my praise, and that’s why I can have joy. I can have hope in the God of my salvation. I can forget all my problems for the moment and throw myself into worshipping Him. It may seem irresponsible to some, but it’s a powerful and liberating concept. My prayer is that all who read this article will find the freedom and joy in realizing that no matter what your circumstances, God is worthy to be praised.

“In Nepal and India, I have watched friends drop by one anothers’ homes, only to sit and remain silent — visits during which everyone was perfectly comfortable (other than myself, of course). Sometimes the silence would extend for hours, at which time a conversation, often full of laughter, would explode as if through spontaneous combustion. Then there would again be silence, which might continue until it was time to leave. These people were confused when I asked them whether they felt awkward about doing nothing together. Simply sitting, they explained, was doing something.”

For the friends that Levine observed, simply the presence of those they hold dear is plenty of activity. It does not need to be added to or scheduled. Silence is not the mark of ‘wasted’ time if it is the silence of being with others. Presence — the ability to feel the passing time together and enjoy life — is enough to captivate.

What if we held this attitude with respect to our time with God? In the hurried, friend-time-scheduling West, perhaps it is easy to forget that He wants to have a relationship with us. We have prayer conferences, prayer books, prayer breakfasts, prayer lists, prayer patterns, and prayer fads. Maybe  some of those things have their place, but in most cases they follow the larger trend of a time-obsessed world: we want to pray as long as we’re getting something else done, too. We’ll pray if it feels like we’re not wasting our time.

Imagine a friend who planned her conversations with you the way that we plan prayer to God. She might write down a list of things to talk about, but as soon as all the items had been addressed she would turn to someone else and engage in small talk. Imagine a friend who calls you up on the phone to recite a conversation he overheard between you and another person because it seemed to have good results and he wants to get the same result that they did. The two of them might hold conferences with other people who are interested in talking to you the same way…

Do these people sound like real friends? Not to me. Friendships couldn’t survive with the limited kinds of interaction we try to use with God. Relationship requires relation; put another way, it requires relating to the other party. If I wouldn’t treat a friend like a vending machine, why do I sometimes treat God that way? What if we decided to “be still and know that [He is] God?” (Psalm 46:10) What if you chose to spend time today praying and meditating on God for who He is, instead of what He can do for you? If you chose to enjoy His presence? Here is a challenge for this week: spend time speaking nothing, but saying everything to God. Sitting with Him is doing something, and it is time well-spent.

There is a hole to be filled. Like drug addicts, people do more and more to gain temporary satisfaction. Once that satisfaction runs out they look to a new place or spend more money. There is a hole inside that needs to be filled, but everything being put in is just seeping through. Nothing is a perfect match for what they need The conclusion naturally follows that this is just how life is, and the new mental norm is created. The gaping hole that is in need of being filled is called ‘normal.’ The constant  quest for temporary satisfaction is now normal and people are left with tons of worldly toys, junk, gadgets and memories but no happiness or lasting satisfaction.

But what if… what if we had what they need? What if we had what fills the hole, the missing piece to the puzzle? What if we had a million dollars that never ran out? Would we share it with anyone and everyone at any given chance or would we keep it for ourselves? Would we give into social pressure and contemplate what someone might think about us if we talk about it? What if they think that I’m weird or dumb? What if?

What if I reached out and touched someone, helped someone? What if I reached out and gave that person what they’ve desired for 20, 40, maybe even 60 years? What if I gave freely what has been freely given to me? What if a life was changed and then they changed a life and then more and more lives were changed? What if  5 minutes of wholehearted witnessing saved 5 million lives? What if I put the ‘re’s back in ‘prioritize’ and evaluated and refocused the lens of my life on what was important?

What if I hit the streets and a holy ghost fire was started? What if God spilled out of my words and conversations and people began getting tears in their eyes and that hole in their hearts began to take notice? What if I prayed for some and they began to cry and drop to their knees and speak in unknown tongues?  What if, instead of watching the waters  and analyzing them every day, I stepped out of the boat and began to walk on water with Jesus? What if God had his way in my life? What If?

Honestly, I never looked at is as a bad thing, just something I’ve always done. I never paid much attention to procrastination until it started affecting my spiritual life. That procrastinator inside me wanted to break out while I was praying. She didn’t want to see what God was going to do, or wanted to put it off until another time. It was unhealthy, and stealing the precious moments that I had in a day — or rather, the precious moments that I could have been preparing for. Procrastination had me in a hard place. Would I continue the way I’ve always been and miss out on the blessings I could be having? Would I put off something I felt to do in prayer, saying an encouraging word to someone or praying for another person? Or would I step up into a new dimension, something that I’ve never done before? Would I start to become . . . a non-procrastinator?

Too many times I’ve missed out on something God was trying to teach me. Whether it was listening to his voice in prayer or just stepping out of my comfort zone, I missed out because I would always do it “later”. It’s an endless circle, the same pattern I’ve had since I was a little girl, and I wanted to break it. It was then that I realized that in order to get in a higher dimension with God, I needed to turn myself over completely to him. Every fault, every strength, and every weakness needed to be turned over to Him. I no longer wanted distractions to come between me and God — even if that meant getting over my procrastination. Once we come to that place of commitment, God will take our hand and carry us to that higher dimension.

When we get there, we will face attacks. But whether the attacks are of fear, resentment, or shame, we have a Shield that will protect us. Not only is God our Shield, but He will strengthen us to overcome and fight back. We can’t let distractions come between us and God. We need to zero in and focus. Instead of rushing for the big finish, we need to organize ourselves so we can learn what God wants to teach us at the time He is teaching us. Not only is it healthy for us, it’s essential to going to that dimension.

In my case it’s usually everyday things like washing clothes, cleaning my room, keeping my desk clean, doing school work, and playing video games. All these things distract me; I forget that I can keep my attention upon God through the repetitive aspects of the day. Also, sometimes I play more video games than I should — I have to break that cycle by putting aside my amusements and spending a little extra time with God.

You could substitute anything for games: shopping, weight lifting, cooking, cleaning, boys/girls, a job, etc. Anything that gets your attention away from God keeps your mind from being wholly given to Him. I find that in these situations it’s best to just step back and refocus. Perhaps I need to spend a little more time in prayer and praise than usual — time that I’d otherwise spend doing the mundane tasks that are always needed.

When I take the time to pray, read, and praise, I often find either that the tasks that seemed so menial don’t drain so much energy, or that I have a spring in my step as I go to do them. Prayer brings a joy that I otherwise wouldn’t have had while doing the very things I often loathed to do beforehand.

Psalms 121:1 says it this way: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” The Lord is our help. He is the one who brings us through the day. When you’re down, when you’re depleted of all energy . . . lift your eyes to Him. Put Him in His rightful place as number one and see what He will do! He is the one who brings us through all tests and trials if we keep our eyes focused on him.

Be challenged this week to do just that: put God in His rightful place in your heart (and time priorities!), and see what He will do. Share some examples of distractions you’ve overcome in the comments section and the results that have followed.

I was stunned. It wasn’t because of the beauty of several dozen stickers — far from it. They did, however, lead me to think some things over. Admittedly, the stickers on my ceiling are not noteworthy, meaningful parts of my life. But somehow they got me to question my actions and the motives behind them. How often do I run around with all my energy focused on the task at hand, missing the “insignificant,” beautiful things in my quest to do something important? Am I trying to get to the end of a lesson and keep the class from an off-topic discussion, or did I just miss a chance to share the love of God with a child in a Sunday school? Am I so focused on trying to succeed in life that I forget to live it? I often find myself doing the same thing in prayer. In my rush to get to the “good stuff” — God’s ministry to me — I skip a vital part: the praise and worship. It seems less important to my silly mind, and yet so often praise is where I find strength, healing and hope.

It’s all too familiar; the beautiful sunset becomes nothing more than glare on the windshield. We miss the grandeur of the forest because of a few sticky pine cones. Our lives are so crowded with imperative nothings. In a misguided society where we face a constant onslaught of illusory importance, we all need to step back, look up, and remember what truly matters in the end.

Psalms 119:37 “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”

What has caused you to take note of the truly important things lately? Are there worthless things you’ve left behind? How do you tell the difference?