Back to the Basics..

In the past year or so I have been constantly reading a book of some sort, and in the past month I have noticed that I have not even picked a book up except for Bible. And I have not even opened my Bible as much as I should have. I have noticed that my focus has shifted some and that is in the middle of changing right now! God deserves my undivided attention and nothing less. I have been so busy with school, work, people, and doing stuff that I could go without doing and forgot about my purpose. Wrong thing to do by the way.

I have been feeling completely overwhelmed by all of my responsibilities and obligations. The things I have been busy with are not "bad things", but they become bad things when they take focus off the Lord. On Tuesday nights we have a college worship service at my church, Livingston First Baptist, and it felt like my college pastor was preaching directly to me tonight. I know God used Scooter to speak to me. And not only did He use Scooter, but he used the worship music too!

One of the songs we sang was "Forever Reign" by Hillsong. The first line of it says: "You are good, You are good when there's nothing good in me". This line hit me like a ton of bricks for some reason. My mind went back to the sermon I heard on Sunday based out of Romans and also the verse Isaiah 64: 6, which says "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Wow. Just wow. It does not matter how many "good things" I do or how involved I am in church or how much of the Bible I read because my most righteous acts are considered filthy rags! I have been so caught up in doing things and not in my relationship with God. The next line that stuck out to me was "You are joy, You are joy. You're the reason that I sing." God should be the reason behind every single thing I do and everything that I do should be to bring Him glory and honor! No other reason! And the last line that rung a bell with me in this song was "You are God, You are God. Of all else I'm letting go!" Nothing else matters except God. End. of. story.

Scooter's message was on point fo sho! Definitely the exact words I needed to hear. One of the verses that he used was Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." I cannot put into words exactly what all I feel right now or how the sermon spoke to me, but I know that my sin was pointed out to me clearly and I have been encouraged. Back to the basics for me.