Good Things & God Things

Recently an amusing, yet spiritually profound, thing happened in a brief text conversation between my wife and I. My wife was telling me about the outlook of her day and some obstacles she had to face. Being at work myself, I had no time to make a phone call and speak verbal reassurance and encouragement to her. So my thumbs of fury flew across the screen and off into cyber space went a text of quick encouragement including the line, 

"...Hope you can get a lot of God things done today."

Naturally, when I looked at my last entry a few seconds later, I noticed the apparent typo. See, I had used the "swype" texting method - I know, I'm so highly evolved, technologically, please hold your applause - and because I so often have to correct the auto-default word choice of "good" by swapping it with "God," this time my phone must've thought "God" was what I wanted in the sentence, not "good."

My instantaneous reaction was to think, in that brief glance down at my phone and my apparent typo, "Ach, that's not what I meant to type." Then I paused for a moment and read it again.

Next, what I typed to my wife was something along the lines of,

"...meant to say "good" not "God"...but that's even better. :) "

What I was reminded of in that moment is that we should always be most concerned with getting "God things" done each day. 

"God things" are better than just "good things," and in fact, when we're striving to do "God things," we'll get plenty of the right things done. 

I can't remember exactly, but I suppose at that moment the subject of the text conversation between my wife and I probably centered around the usual tasks of everyday living. You know, the cleaning around the house that gets neglected...The things she needed to get on top of as an on-site apartment manager for the rental property where we live...Groceries or errands...The bills...Box after mundane, routine, annoyingly urgent box of our life's daily checklist. 

We all worry about these things, don't we? We all get sucked into the craze of fulfilling each day's urgent checklist. But do we make sure it's the important things, and not necessarily the urgent, that are given our attention, and the full effort of our heart and will every day?

Remember: "Urgent" usually just means there's an element of promptness about the thing - and this is often an element that's twisted in our minds because of distraction (example: an email notification buzzing on your smartphone tells you to urgently look at it and respond). But "important" means that the effects of achieving that thing are of lasting significance. 

It's a struggle to prioritize properly, especially when the Christian's values and priorities are a vastly different set of things from what most others live by, or live "under the thumb of."

Because of our new status as forgiven, saved children of the one true God, we get to live in an awesome state of freedom that we can't always feel or detect through our earthly lenses, but that - nonetheless - exists in spiritual reality. This means we are free to focus our lives each day on the things that matter to God, more than focusing on the day-to-day grind and all the peripheral checklist boxes. 

This is not to say that we should neglect all other regular duties. Being responsible with everything that's on our plate shows thankfulness and faithfulness to God that he is proud of when we exhibit it. But the point is, it's far better to have a moment of quality investment into the lives of our children, teaching them something, speaking the word of Jesus into their lives, and bestowing principles that root their foundation, than it is to have a squeaky clean kitchen at all times. And lots of other things like that -- you fill in your own blanks.

So, as long as the things we accomplish each day center on our family, furthering our relationships and our love of, and devotion to, our God, in ways that will leave lasting impressions and growth in each other, THEN we've done the right "good things." THEN we have plenty of reason to exhale in satisfaction as our head hits the pillow for the night. 

"These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and

when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."

Deuteronomy 6:6-9