I enjoy the summer ministry season because so many of the places where I speak and work follow a schedule that is set forth for the week. This schedule often causes the campers or mission trip participants to set aside time for breakfast, lunch and dinner at a specified time, while also setting aside time each morning and evening for individual and group devotion and worship. When I was a camper as a youth, I remember less appreciation for this schedule as it required us to get up earlier than what I was used to and felt a little suffocating to me because it required us to be at certain places at certain times. As I have gotten older and I have matured, I have found myself appreciating this "forced" schedule because it helps me to further grow in my relationship with Christ and to become more disciplined.

As I was reading through another devotion recently, I came across a reference to 1 Chronicles 28:9 where I read, "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." I was drawn to three points in the passage as it refers to God's call to me to become more disciplined in my life.

1. "Serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind"- I know how my devotional life began in the early days of my walk with Christ as an obligatory task that I had been taught to do as a follower of Christ. As I continued to grow, I found myself becoming more desirous of my devotional time. Yet, I must admit there have been desert times in my Christian walk when I have found myself returning to the obligatory mindset or sadly have left the disciplined life of a set-aside devotional time. Yet, I give God thanks that God knows my heart and understands the motives behind my thoughts. He knows I may be going through this desert, yet, he does not give up on me. God draws me unto Himself seeking to spur me on to that wholehearted devotion once again.
2. "If you seek him, he will be found by you"- I thank God that God does not hide from us. God wants us to find him and his desire is that as we seek him, that our hearts and lives are being changed. As I seek after God, I am reminded of Psalm 1:3 where we read, "He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." As I daily see my life as seeking after God in a seeking manner, it is a passionate, zeal filled life that always wants a little bit more of Jesus. As I get more of Jesus, I become a better fruit bearing member of the vine.
3. "But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever"- If I don't want to talk to Christ each day of my life here on earth, why would he think I want to spend eternity with him? I have been living with this question on a regular basis because I envision Christ seated, waiting to talk to me each day. It is not an egotistical ideology where I think God is only listening to me, but it is a personal relationship ideology where I sense the Creator of the Universe wants to be in relationship with me in an intimate way. I pray I will not forsake God and be rejected forever.

How is your life? Are you living a disciplined life that is seeking God? Are you discovering times when you seek God and find him? How is your wholehearted devotion unto God? I pray you will consider your present spiritual condition and how it is tied closely to your discipline and willingness to seek God with wholehearted devotion.

Prayer: O Lord, thank you for allowing us to seek you each day. Thank you for those experiences in our lives where we see you doing wonderful work in and through us. Heed us back to a life of discipline when we get away from our passionate seeking of you each day. Quiet us, and give us a sense of your presence. Amen.