“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadows of the Almighty.”
-Psalm 91:1
At 35, Richard Baxter was expected to die before his next birthday. After a total collapse, which was probably tuberculosis and an assortment of complications, Baxter was confined to his bed. That’s when he began to do some serious thinking about his future.
Baxter began to spend 30 minutes a day in meditation on heaven’s joy as part of his preparation for leaving this world. He also began to catalog his thoughts, which eventually found their way into a best selling book, “Saint’s Everlasting Rest.” Baxter wrote, “If thou wouldst have light and heat, why art thou no more in the sunshine?”
If you want light and heat, you’d better find time to be in the sunshine. Baxter has suggested you need 30 minutes a day but few can squeeze 30 minutes from an overburdened schedule nowadays.
One day at the height of his very successful ministry, Dwight L. Moody was in his study working on a message. His young son “Todd”, entered the study and sat down on the floor. He had been there for just a few moments when Moody somewhat gruffly asked, “What is it you want, Son?” Surely the lad wouldn’t have entered his study unless he needed something. Moody’s son replied, “I just wanted to be where you are.”
But suppose you could just take five minutes a day – and spend those five minutes focusing on God, thinking of His nature and character, refusing to let your mind dwell on your schedule or your problems. How much sunshine do you think might fill your life? Meditating on God for just five minutes without letting my mind wander to other things doesn’t come easy. It requires discipline.
No comments:
Post a Comment