One-track mind

I can have a one-track mind — especially when I get excited about something. Okay, maybe “one-track” isn’t the right word … more like obsessive.

My family planned a trip to Yellowstone National Park for next summer and I can’t even tell you how many hours I’ve already spent obsessively searching what I’ll need to pack, what we’ll want to do, how long it will take to get from point A to point B. And all of this is for a trip that’s still six months away.

Do we have that same kind of drive in our relationship with God? I don’t, and I was convicted of it recently while lying in bed late at night scrolling Pinterest and Amazon for excursion and outfit ideas.

I won’t spend time in prayer or reading Scripture because “I don’t have time” or “I need to sleep,” but I’ll then lay in bed awake scrolling.

If I can get so consumed by a week-long trip that’s still months away, why can’t I seem to find an hour a day to spend in communion with God? Why don’t I obsessively strive to know God as well as I’ve been trying to know the ins-and-outs of Yellowstone?

Surely the Creator of the universe, our Friend and Savior, deserves exponentially more passion and dedication that a vacation I’m taking — no matter how cool the destination is.

Just imagine the level of appreciation I could have of the Teton Mountains or Yellowstone’s rainbow hot springs if I had an intimate relationship with the One who designed them.

I’ve tried to remember that. How much more will I enjoy traveling the world when I understand the might, the mind and the love of the One who created it? (This is starting to sound like a great topic for another blog so kept an eye for that!)

Maybe you don’t obsessively plan things like me (most people don’t). But that doesn’t mean you don’t have something you’ve dedicated your life to over God. It could be anything: social media, books, TV or movies, relationships with family, friends and significant others or work. None of that stuff is inherently bad — some of it is even good — but when any of it is prioritized over our walk with Christ, we need to reevaluate. Jesus should be the priority of all of our lives and when we put Him on the throne that is rightfully His, everything else will fall in place below it.

So I challenge you to take a few moments, convene with God and evaluate your own life. What are you prioritizing over God? What do you need to change? And how will making that change impact your heart and life for the better?


“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4)


 

Jessica Ingram is a regular contributor to The Scroll. She also is project manager for TAB Media Group. She graduated from Mississippi State University in 2017 and is a member of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham.

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