I am in an experiment to show (myself primarily) that a person can put God first, seek first his kingdom, and spend time with God daily. The experiment seeks to show that if a person does put God first then not only will a crazy job and life not fall apart- it will thrive.
I am a little backed up today as I think about my work/job day ahead. This is not easy. I have about 4 crucial things I need to get done in the next two days. It has been great to force myself for the past 20 days to go to bed at a reasonable hour- and then wake up to pray and spend time with the Lord. As far as how my job is faring during that time I think I am too close to the situation to see clearly right now. I have had a few customer-facing successes during this period of time for sure and certainly I haven't royally messed up anything at work by not working late into the night. I would say my "going above-and-beyond" type stuff hasn't made as much progress as I would like.
On a personal front our household situation has gone quite well as we've re-financed during this period of time and knocked out some other home-related "to-do" items.
I am going to stick with this approach of seeking the Lord daily regardless of whatever the short-term outcome is because, frankly, I want to spend time with the Lord. I WANT to be close to him. My life is sooo short. What I do- or do not do at work is very temporary. I still have a strong desire to make a difference at work but I am hanging onto the belief that me+trust in God+spending time with God is going to have a more positive effect on everything in my life (including my job) than just me+workaholism.
There are two scriptures in Psalms that every stressed out job worker, manager, or borderline workaholic should read. The first is in Psalm 127 verse 1 "Unless the LORD builds the house,they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain." The second verse is right after that- Psalm 127 verse 2, "2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep."
The scriptures above teach us that God is in control, he reigns over everything, and nothing can be done without his authority. If we have an idol of workaholism in our hearts this means we believe ourselves+work equals= progress, success, and a good life. So, we replace hard work+trust in God+a balanced life with work and sweat and this is an idol. We might mentally say to ourselves that of course we trust God with our job etc- but our behavior of killing ourselves and neglecting sleep, family time, and prayer say the exact opposite. I was doing some of this myself prior to this test and I am still not fully redeemed in this area.
The Alternative:
Here are a couple of scriptural alternatives you can just read-- I have to run and get ready for work. If you read these scriptures and make a life-change to put God first you are saying that you believe God will act and support you because you trusted Him.
#1) Matthew 6 verses 31-33 "Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
#2) Psalm 37 verse 4 "Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Last thing... the Psalm of the day today was Psalm 65, it was awesome, I just ran out of time to write about it. It has a neat tie-in with how God does bless his people. It confirms the positive LONG-TERM side of everything I am seeking to prove in my "Put God First Test". Its encouraging you should read it. Here is a direct link if it is easier for you. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ps%2065&version=NKJV
Let's GO God --- we have much to accomplish at work today. Please bless my Web project I've had next to no time to work on!!
All scriptures quoted in the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible which is Copyrighted by Thomas Nelson. Scriptures obtained from www.biblegateway.com
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