The world’s intention is to steal you away from God. The devil wants you for himself. There always is a second agenda and hidden powers that want to entice us away from God. And we don’t realise it. We don’t realise our day is completely filled with things which may sometimes be important things, but things that suck up our time so that little is left for God. Why? Because the devil is pulling out all the stops to prevent us from getting to God and to hear His voice.

Let’s look at what happened to me this morning. I got up early to spend time with God. I had two hours to be silent and to hear what God wants to say to me. I had everything ready. My Bible program was already open on screen and my word-processing program at the right place so that I could take notes as I went along. Just before I started I wondered whether Crossroad’s e-mail dispatch program was still running.

When I checked quickly I realised I still had to load just one user e-mail address list – the people should receive their Crossroad. In the process I checked quickly whether the English one had started running correctly. Then I quickly checked whether it had been uploaded correctly to Facebook. I noticed a string of e-mails being returned and I wondered whether an e-mail post master had put up a stop sign somewhere and whether users will therefore not receive the e-mails.

But this was God’s work, I thought to myself. It was God’s ministry and I was working in His Kingdom.

More than 30 minutes later I looked at my Bible again. And with a shock I realised that 30 minutes of intimacy with God has been taken from me. The devil is so clever that he can even use God’s work, God’s ministry, to entice me from God. How absurd!

But that is his tactics. The world with all its lights and screens and things entices us, tries all the time to grab hold of us with dirty, sticky hands and pull us away from God. We have to be aware of this and check where the world with its dirty, sticky hands is pulling us away from God.

Jesus did indeed come to this earth to save us from those dirty, sticky hands. This was what God and Jesus had planned right from the start. People must be protected against the world. People must be rescued from the grip that the world has on them. And that is exactly what Jesus came to do. He not only demolished the wall between God and us, but He also saved us from the world: 4 … Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we’re in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God’s plan is that we all experience that rescue.

Those people who have not yet accepted Jesus as Saviour are still caught in the grip of the world. We can easily recognise those people. We can also be recognised. We are the people the world does not have hold of. But wait! Does the world have a grip on us too? Is the world also rushing us from one place to another so that we have no more time for our loved ones, for people in need or for God?

The dirty, sticky hands of the world pull us deeper and deeper, holding us in its grip. Yes, Jesus saved us from the world, but for one reason or another we allow the world to pull us closer again. God has already done the impossible. Now it is our responsibility to do the possible: Do not let the world get hold of you. Do not let the world get her dirty, sticky hands on you. Go and find those things that steal your time and put them outside the door so that you can have enough quiet time with God.

I believe you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Galatians 1:1-5

Reflection

Where does the world have a grip on you?

What do you have to do differently?

Where can you be quiet with God?

Prayer

Lord, one word is screaming at me: Guilty. I know I’m guilty of allowing the world to put its arm around me. I know other things are stealing my time with You. I don’t want to fall into the hands of the world again. No, Lord! I want to serve only You, with everything that I have in me. Amen