Experiencing God's Presence #227

Experiencing God's Presence #227

They left their nets at once and followed him.

Mark 1:18

When the disciples followed Jesus, they left their past behind. For some of them, “the past” was not only a family business but the family members still working at it. When the woman at the well encountered Jesus, she left her water jar behind. Zacchaeus left his fraudulent ways and his wealth. Lazarus left his grave clothes. It’s a pattern that’s repeated often in the Gospels. Jesus makes some aspects of our past irrelevant.

We come into the Presence of God with a lot of baggage that we don’t take with us when we go. That’s because He has a way of helping us rearrange our priorities, reorient our vision, and reassess our needs. What we see as necessary becomes a lot less so when we get a glimpse of Him. We begin to realize that He’s all we need; everything else is peripheral.

Those moments of realization that nothing else matters are precious, but they can be few and far between. The details of life and all the responsibilities we bear have a way of screaming for attention. They squeeze our God-moments out of our schedules. We still pray—sometimes on the fly—but it takes time to let deep truths sink in, and the right perspective on God is a deep truth. Exalting Him above everything else in our hearts is a process.

Take time today to sit in His Presence and sift through your priorities, your vision, and your needs. Let Him grow larger in your eyes, and notice what becomes smaller. Realize that when He is first in your day, everything else falls into its proper place. Whatever you bring into His Presence, be prepared to leave it behind.

Jesus, I carry a lot of things around with me—responsibilities, attachments, to-do lists . . . You know the issues. But I hold them loosely as I come to You, and I’m prepared to let anything go. As You increase in importance to me, let other things decrease. And let me walk away lighter.