Imagine this with me.

The husband and father of a certain family is a hard worker. He serves his family and works hard to provide for them. But every night when he comes home from a hard day at work, he’s fortunate to find the remains of a half-eaten sandwich. Every evening, he anticipates a warm, satisfying meal, yet, instead he ends up with cold, soggy left overs. Sounds unfair, doesn’t it?

Photo Credit: SGT9hJGI 

What if this same husband longs to share his heart with his wife. He sends her flowers, takes care of all her needs, and goes out of his way to make her feel loved and cherished. Instead of expressing her gratefulness and returning his affection, she hardly even notices his presence and rarely communicates with him…and she is completely fine with him receiving the unappetizing leftovers.

So now let’s imagine that there is a Creator God of our universe. Imagine that this God lovingly formed each of us in His image, sent His son to redeem mankind after we defied Him, and forgives us when we sin. This same God now lives inside us, so we can have sweet fellowship with Him. Imagine that this loving Father desires deep communion with us, and each day, He sends us a beautiful sunrise as a reminder of His love. Imagine He lovingly protects us from many dangers we’re not even aware of.

As you can tell, this story has abandoned the imaginary. It has become very real.

You see, God, our Father, anticipates spending precious time with us, but every day, He becomes an afterthought. We seldom give Him anything but our leftovers. We give Him whatever small amount of time we can spare to read His word. If life isn’t too crazy, we squeeze in a hurried prayer as we dash from one social event to the other. Hearing God’s voice and knowing His heart is being replaced by our social calendars and social media.

We’ve become socially successful while we’re spiritually dying.

I don’t know about you, but all the social media sites have brought a sense of struggle that I am no longer willing to accept in my life. I’ve realized that I was getting more caught up in this area than I ever should have allowed, and I have decided….

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat…The list goes on. It is so easy to let these crowd into our lives. These things are not bad in themselves, but the proper boundaries are needed. It’s time we stop giving the leftovers of our time, our focus, and our energy to our heavenly Father.

As you reflect over your day, do you find that you’ve been giving God your leftovers? Again? Would your spouse or other family members want to stay in a relationship where they always receive the remaining scraps? Do you really think that God is different? Does your Creator God and Redeeming Savior deserve the short remains you’ve been offering Him?

Photo Credit: Alisha Mullett

If we say we love God and have a relationship with Him, why don’t our lives and priorities reflect it? We will live only what we truly believe, but everything else is simply religious nonsense. And our religious nonsense is what makes us hypocrites and keeps us out of heaven.

Is social media and all of your social events helping or hindering you in your walk with Jesus?

~Cindy (For The Mullett Family)