Making the Most of the Time
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Ephesians 5:15-16
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.
OK. One of my friends told me I was “all over the place” with the devotion I posted on Tuesday. The “mercy seat” discussion! And I was, truly, in quite a whirl. I can’t really explain how my heart skips a beat when I think about even approaching that place of resting so completely in God and feeling so covered by Him and His love and grace. It is overwhelming. And I say that I do not understand why He has allowed me to even think I deserve to be in that seat!
Well, assuming that is the case, where does that leave me? What does that mean for me and for my life? Doesn’t it mean that I am now to hold myself to a higher standard of living? Doesn’t it mean that I shun the world and spend every ounce of my energy and expend every second of my life, working toward the perfection Jesus promised us at the end of time? Does it mean “the end” is approaching? Well of course it is! It has been for 2000 years! And today, it’s one day closer than it was yesterday! No, I did not glean that information in my temporary “altered state.” I only know that the end is coming. And that I want to be ready to be taken up to heaven on that day.
And I want my world to be a better place because I lived in it. I want the people I meet to feel more loved and more valued because I crossed their paths. I want peace. I want an end to hunger and poverty. I want a perfect world. I want. . . I want . . . I want . . . Oops! It’s so easy to fall into that mindset! I want God to use me as He wants. I want His will. I want His perfection. I want Him to show me what small part I play in His plan. I want Him to reveal to me what I can do, what I am made to do to bring about that perfection only possible through belief in Him and in His Son.
I commented to my husband that being in the mercy seat didn’t mean that everything around me was just wonderful. He replied, “Just the opposite is usually the case, my dear.” And he’s right. It doesn’t mean that everything in my life is so great. It doesn’t mean I have all the answers – or any of them! Maybe that mercy seat is meant to protect me. Maybe it’s meant to comfort and soothe me when my mind races around to all the ways I fall short of the perfection I so deeply desire. Maybe, just maybe, God stoops down from heaven sometimes to let us know our efforts are noticed, and that we are on the right track. And that He loves us, even when we feel the world hates us. And that He does exist. And He is the great I AM.
I don’t have any great wisdom! I have no great knowing of the intimate workings of the mind of God. I do know about His mercy though. And I understand He loves me more than I deserve, and far more than I could ever explain or imagine. And he loves you that much too. More than you’ll ever know. More than you will ever know.
My prayer today is that you will find rest in the mercy seat. And that you will abide awhile there, throughout the tumult of your day.
Mary
