“You can go forty-two days without food, four days without water, and eight minutes without air. But, you cannot go a single second without God.” ~ Unknown
We often pride ourselves on how self-sufficient we are and we like to prepare ourselves for the worst. Television programs like Doomsday Preppers show us what lengths some people go to prepare for the worst. As much as we might be able to prep for disasters, wars, shortages, and the like, there is no way we can prepare for the worst calamity of all: absence from God.
One of the classic definitions of hell is the total absence of God. When souls deprive themselves of God, there is no survival for them. There is only eternal destruction.
I think that all comes about because of the first few words of the first paragraph: “We often pride ourselves.” Pride is a deadly sin because it separates us from our dependence upon God. It makes us think that we can go it alone. The truth is that we cannot. We are nothing without God. With God, we are everything.
There are those who complain that they do not have everything they want in life. They look for ways to get what they feel God did not provide for them. They cheat their way through life and do all that they can to assert themselves, even over the needs of others. In attempting to prove that they are self-sufficient, that they are all that they need, they cut God out of their lives. That is never a recipe for success. It is, instead, a sure path to disaster.
In our fast-paced world, we often cut corners in our day in order to get more work done. However, we should take great care not to cut any spiritual corners by skipping prayer and/or reflection as it is those very things that keep us centered on God and help us to make better decisions in our lives. Giving God His due helps clarify our day because we see it through the Lord’s eyes rather than our own.
FAITH ACTION: Make sure that you do not leave God out of your life today. Begin and end the day with prayer and turn to Him for help throughout the day.