God is not a hobby

Devotional

Have you ever had the chance to visit a castle? Maybe it was a castle still being used today, like in Great Britain. Or maybe it was a medieval structure left over from long ago.

For those of us who live in a democracy, buildings like this and the royalty they represent can feel strange to us. Americans even fought a war for independence to be freed from the rule of kings. And one of the nation’s core beliefs is that we as people can and should govern ourselves.

But Jesus began his earthly ministry in a very different way than we might expect in our culture. He said in Mark 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” He taught us to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” in Matthew 6:33. He instructed us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” in Matthew 6:10. And in Revelation 19:16 we read that when Jesus returns, his name will be “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

The Bible describes God as “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible” (1 Timothy 1:17). Scripture proclaims, “the Lᴏʀᴅ is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King” (Jeremiah 10:10).

So when the Bible describes God as king, it is referring to God as king of every dimension of the universe, every moment of every day. Everything we think we own actually comes from him and is to be used for his purposes. In a very real sense, you are wearing your king’s clothes right now, breathing his air, walking on his planet.

And he is the king of Monday, not just Sunday. He is the king of what you do in private, not just what you do in public. He is the king of the money you keep, not just the money you give. He is the king of every part of your life, every day of your life.

Tragically, many in our culture treat God not as a king but as a hobby. They see him as relevant to their religious activities but not the rest of their lives. Some might play golf on Sunday, I might go to church, and someone else might go to a museum—they are all hobbies, ways we spend our free time.

Of course, no one has the right to force their hobbies on others. I can’t make you like classical music any more than you can make me like opera. In the same way, I have no right to force my religious hobby on you. Or so our secularized culture thinks. In the same way, why would we expect others to care about our religious “hobby” if it’s nothing more than a choice on how we spend our Sunday mornings?

Here’s the problem: when we make God anything less than our king, we miss out on all he has planned for and through our lives. We miss his perfect will, his providential purpose, and his abiding presence. We miss all the ways he will make our lives significant in this life and the next. We are left with what we as finite, fallen humans can do. And that’s not nearly what he can do.

Would you make God your king today?

Let’s seek his kingdom first by doing his will in every moment of our days. Jesus’ promise is clear in our verse today: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Choose to seek his kingdom first today by opening your heart and mind to the king in guided prayer.

today’s devotional is written by Jim Denison