The other day I was injured while texting (IWT). Have you ever accidentally done this? Have you ever walked into a pole, fallen down the gutter or tripped up the stairs while looking at your phone? It is easy to reduce the world to the size of the screen in front of us. When we do this, we run the risk of hurting ourselves or others. When we live life solely focused on the things of this world, we risk having a small view of life and losing sight of the big picture. We shrink our thoughts, desires, words and actions down to whichever spontaneous thought, emotion, or need might be gripping us.
This year, there will be moments when we will shrink life to the importance of winning that argument or getting through the traffic or saving face. There will be moments when our happiness and contentment will shrink to the importance of new clothes, that new show, or extracting a compliment from someone. In Mark Chapter 10, Jesus says to a guy who has money and power, 21 Go sell everything that you have and give it to the poor.
Jesus wants this man, just as he wants us, to reorder our dependence and to have a big view of life. He wants to remind us that the things of this world are not all there is to life and that we were created for so much more. He reminds us not to live just for the treasures of the moment; we were created for something much bigger – a relationship with God.
It is hard though, isn’t it? It is hard not to just live for the moment. Jesus’ own disciples did not think they could do it. They hear what Jesus says and respond, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replies, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
If God has rescued us through Jesus and done everything to redeem us, surely, he will give us enough grace to see life in Him through to the end. It might seem like an impossible week, an impossible month, or an impossible year. But God makes the impossible possible. You are not a lost cause. He has not left you on your own. There is grace for our fickle and easily distracted hearts.