Ego
by Margaret Davies
I came across an acronym for the word ego recently, which was 'Edging God Out'. I thought how easy it is, in the world we live in today, with so many things to do, and so many ways of achieving them, to edge God out of our lives. Sometimes we don’t even realise we’re doing it.
How often people say “I know I should spend more time with God, but I'm just too busy to pray, or to spend that time with God. My schedule’s already overcrowded. I don't have enough time in the day to read my bible, or to pray. It’s alright for you. You’re retired, but I have so much to do.”
We’re all very good at producing excuses, retired or not. Edging God out isn’t something that happens quickly or suddenly. It’s a gradual process of drawing further and further apart, and much of the time we’re unaware that it’s happening. If we’re not vigilant in spending time with God, He can seem to become distant. This is something which can easily sneak up on any of us.
In James 4:7 it says ‘So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you’. The enemy is very subtle in finding ways to draw us away from our times with God, distracting us with thoughts, and many worldly pursuits.
We all need the Lord’s help not to edge Him out of our lives. We can easily be deceived into thinking we’re doing fine and we can cope. We do things in our own strength or go it alone.
We need to constantly be reminding ourselves of our verse for today. In the New Living Translation it says ‘Come close to God, and God will come close to you’ (James 4:8).
We were never told it would be easy, but we constantly need the Lord’s help to keep us on the pathway, and not fall prey to edging God out of our lives.
The words of a song by Stuart DeVane and Glenn Gore that I learned many years ago come to mind.
‘Draw me closer, Lord. Draw me closer, dear Lord.
So that I might touch You. So that I might touch You.
Lord, I want to touch You.
Touch my eyes, Lord, Touch my eyes, dear Lord.
So that I might see You. So that I might see You.
Lord, I want to see You.
Your glory and Your love, Your glory and Your love,
Your glory and Your love, and Your majesty’.
Prayer: Father, help us to daily keep our focus on You, and our eyes and our heart following you. Forgive us for the times when we’ve inadvertently edged You out of our lives and gone our own way. Draw us back, Lord, to You today, and keep us concentrated on You, Amen.
Margaret Davies is married to Trevor whom she met and married in Israel where she worked in various ministries for almost 10 years. They joined Ellel Ministries in Scotland in 2002 where they served for almost 13 years, and have just recently left the full time team at Blairmore House. They are presently living in a small village in North Essex, and Margaret enjoys baking, gardening and walking.
Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.
