What are you doing now may not be as significant as what you gave up in order to do it. That was the issue in a contest held in Rochester, New York. According to USA Today, about 30 contestants competed in a Kidney Foundation fundraiser called a Touch-A-Thon. A new car was to be given to the person who could touch a red spot on the car for the longest time, not counting the 15-minute breaks that were allowed every 4 hours. Four days later, one man and one woman were still left, and each was determined to outlast the other. But suddenly and unexpectedly, the end came. The woman reached into her purse for a fingernail file and took her hand off the car.
The book of Ecclesiastes also tells about losing touch – but in Solomon’s case it was something of inestimable value. The writer had started out well by living for God. But then he began working for personal profit and pleasure, striving for bigger homes, better gardens, more music, and greater assets. Suddenly it dawned on him that in reaching out for those things, he had actually let go of his contact with God, his true source of meaning and lasting happiness. He traded his confidence in the eternal Lord for passing pleasures.
How about us? Are we justifying what we are doing, not realizing that we may no longer be living in close fellowship with the Lord? Perhaps we should stop worrying about our “fingernails.” Unlike the contestant, however, we can re-establish our contact with eternal values through repentance and faith. – Martin R. De Haan II
While walking in the light of God,
You’ll sweet communion find;
Then press with holy vigor on
And leave the world behind. – Anon.
He who walks with God will be out of step with the world.
- June 21, 1984, Our Daily Bread
For You 