May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, NLT)
We turn the page of 2014 and look ahead to 2015. Every year most of us make some goals we would like to accomplish in the year to come. As a golfer, I want to work on being more intentional as I play. I want to have a plan and execute it more effectively. It is easy for me to slip into my old lazy game and not take the time to think specifically about what I want to do on each shot. I hope to do better in that aspect of my game this year.
I want to apply that same principle to my walk with God. I believe that we could all benefit from being more intentional in our pursuit of God. It is all too easy to fall back into our harried and over extended life and to forget what we are really here for. I firmly believe that if I spend the time to get close to him, the rest of my life will be less complicated and more pleasing to him.
We can only be responsible for our intentions. They are centered in our will, which is the only thing we really have to offer back to God. We can choose to spend more time pursuing him. That by definition will require us to make choices about other things that also compete for our attention. The writer of Psalms 19:14 was making his intention toward God clear. He prayed to be pleasing to God with the time he spent meditating and thinking about God and with the words he spoke to God.
We are made in God’s image and we reflect him when we are living in a close personal relationship to him. He desires for us to know him in an intensely personal way. He created us for relationship and longs for us to want to know him as he knows us. Imagine for a moment what that actually means. The creator of the universe wants to know us in a personal and specific way. That will not happen outside of our intentional pursuit of God.
We practice our golf skills and try to get more specific with what we want to accomplish. We can apply the same process to our life. God is the source of all that matters. We can look for satisfaction in our life with many other things. We are made in a way that can only be satisfied when we are pursuing him with purpose. We will find him if that is our intention. When we find him in that quiet place in our heart, we will experience his joy and peace and will know that we are finally home. We can’t change how we were designed, but we can accept our position as created beings made for fellowship with the Creator.
My intention for 2015 is to know him better. The rest of my life will work out according to his plan for me if I make pursuing him the most important priority in my life. I want to know him better now because all that I already know about him points to the fact that I will be spending an eternity in his presence. I will be home with my Father and Creator. It will be more wonderful than I can imagine, and I know that I will spend my eternal days rejoicing in his great love for me as I come to know who he really is.
—
Linda Ballard
January 8, 2015
Copyright 2015 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.