Today, we took a tour around Kosovo with our incredible ministry hosts. As the Eastern European landscape rushed by, I worked to fight off motion sickness, and I had plenty of time to think, pray, and sit in communion with Jesus. After only a few moments, I found myself asking God these questions:
- Where is the Holy reverence for our Creator?
- Where is the bleeding love for our Savior?
- Where is the awe and wonder for the Spirit of God?
- How did Jesus slip into an everyday monotony when His rightful place is on the throne of our hearts?
Sometimes we unknowingly switch into “Christian autopilot.” The plane is flying, and we are moving toward a Heavenly destination, but we aren’t thinking about the small things we deem inconsequential. We aren’t focused on every single gauge, switch, and button in the cockpit because our life is carrying on without much effort or struggle on our part, and as a result, the parts of our hearts we fail to tend to become desensitized or hardened.
Perhaps we begin to think we are entitled to certain luxuries, or we presume we are allowed to break certain rules because they don’t really matter or apply to us. Maybe we stop nurturing relationships because they are hard and we are just “too different” to make it work, or we stop holding ourselves accountable for excellence and instead settle for mediocrity because everyone around us does.
I’ve been in more than one of these places, so today, I speak from experience.
Essentially, we turn our attention away from loving, obeying, and living for the Holy One, and focus on only one: ourselves. Slowly and often unintentionally, our focus shifts from Kingdom things to worldly things.
Questions like this begin to dominate our inner monologue:
- What do I need from people?
- What do I want to do?
- What do I feel?
- What will make me happy?
- What do I think is “right” or “permissible”?
Instead, as followers of Christ, we should be asking:
- What do people need from me today?
- What does God want from me in this moment?
- How do I feel, and how does that align with wisdom found in scripture?
- Is my joy truly rooted in God, or is it circumstantial?
- Am I submitting to both authority and scripture to live according to the precepts of the Lord?
God doesn’t expect perfection, but He does expect genuine effort and a whole heart that beats and lives and bleeds for Him. So today, I am praying this over myself and over every member of my community (both at home and abroad). With this prayer, it is my hope that we will wake up and take control of the details in our actions and thoughts. No more living on autopilot.
Father, thank You for remaining faithful no matter the posture of our hearts. Thank You for loving us in perfect wholeness. Unsettle us, Lord. Offer us conviction, and help us to hold up a mirror instead of a magnifying glass; help us to see the ways, both large and small, that we are being unfaithful, instead of focusing on the offenses of others. After all, you don’t perceive the size of our moments of irreverence and disobedience…every offense is the same in your eyes because you desire every part of our hearts to walk in one accord with Yours. Please help us to give everything to You out of love, reverence, and obedience for who You are. We love You, Lord.
Until the Whole World Hears,
Mia
PS – Here are some scriptural references related to the topics above. If this post speaks to you, feel free to check them out, and let me know what you think in the comments!
