Over the past week I've had some interesting exchanges with people regarding the new health care bill. In fact, I've spent hours researching it online, listening to podcasts, watching interviews...I'm trying to be informed.
But it's now 11:00 pm and I'm still wide awake. I need to get up in six hours, but I'm not even close to being asleep. As I laid in bed praying, I know why.
If I had spent 15 seconds a day in prayer for every 1 minute I spent thinking about/arguing about/researching the health care bill, then I could have had some amazing time with God :)
I've let my focus shift - I've stopped looking at God and have left myself look at the world. Don't get me wrong - I live here, so I need to know what's going on, but it can't be my focus. When it becomes my focus, it displaces God.
I looked these words up tonight -
Exalt: to enhance the activity of
Worship: to regard with great devotion
Wow...if you look at the activity and devotion I've given to understanding and debating the health care bill, it's pretty obviously become the object of exaltation and worship in my life this week.
God, forgive me.
Scripture is clear - love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Have no God before him.
While I've definitely not been singing praises to the health care debate, nor have I been admiring it, what I HAVE been doing is waiting for others' responses so I can share my side of the story. I've been thinking of ways to explain myself. I've been mulling over it for hours. By doing that, I have NOT been giving God all of my mind.
When it comes down to it, this bill won't affect me at all. It doesn't matter if it keeps me in the poor house, gives me $5/month insurance, saves or crashes this country's economy. None of that will affect me, because I'm a child of God, and this world is not my home.
God has proven over and over again that HE is my provider - not Matt, not the State, not the Feds, not insurance. Through His perfect timing, Matt was diagnosed with cancer and treated. During that time neither of us worked full time, but we tithed and gave faithfully. We also paid off our debts and saved money for a down payment on a house. When you try to figure it out logically, it doesn't work - there's no way for two people on our low wages to have accomplished that much. But when you put your understanding aside and put your faith in God, it works.
It doesn't matter what happens to this government. It doesn't matter who fails or who succeeds. None of this really matters because this is just a short part of our eternal lives. What really matters is your faith - where have you put it? Is it in man, or God?
My faith is in God. He loves us, cherishes us, provides for us in His perfect way, in His perfect timing. Matt and I have believed that since we were married, and we need to cling to it today.
I've spent so much time arguing health care - people know EXACTLY where I stand regarding it. But do these same people know where I stand with God? Instead of arguing about laws that will someday cease, have I taken the time to share the truth of the One truth health giver? Instead of worrying about our freedom within this country, have I shared with them the truth of freedom in Christ?
No, I haven't, and that's what's keeping me awake, because it doesn't matter if this bill fails or succeeds. Eventually we will all end up in the same place. Whether rich or poor, black or white, young or old, the cost to maintain our physical health doesn't matter if we've allowed our spiritual health to deteriorate.
I'm not just speaking about being a spiritual person. I'm talking about our eternal spirits which will survive the fate of our physical forms. And the Bible is clear about our spiritual fate - there is one way to heaven, and that way is Jesus Christ.
Some people will be confused by this, others will be offended, some will cheer, and some will ignore it. Honestly, I don't care how it is received. What I care about is that I said it. It might not be the most eloquent statement of faith, and I doubt that it's grammatically correct (at 11:30 pm), but it's my statement of faith in God. It's my decision to stop focusing on the health care bill and to refocus on my Lord and Savior. It's my determination to be informed, involved, but not consumed by this world.
My faith is in God for all things. He has never left me nor forsaken me. He has always provided. His promises endure, even through dramatic governmental changes.
So...no more health care debate for me. I'll probably ignore the conversations about it. I might "like" something on Facebook, but that's it. I don't want to spend another minute defending my believes. I want to refocus. I'm going to refocus. It starts now.
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