Watching the Wrong Scoreboard

(I wanted to expand a bit on a section of the previous post.)

 

 

Back in the 80's, basketball began using an electronic device called the  "possession arrow" to show which team would receive possession of the ball in special situations.  The possession arrow sits on the scorer's table pretty much ignored by everyone, except for occasional glances near the end of tight games.

Unlike its big brother the scoreboard...which receives thousands of times the attention.

But what if at game's end, regardless of the score, the referees awarded the victory to the team favored by...the possession arrow?  I understand that's crazy and problematic...but...what if?  What would that change?  Pretty much...everything.

If that happened, teams would recognize that their present strategies were worthless and pointless (pun not intended), and would throw them out in place of new strategies in order to win.

My relationship with God is like that possession arrow.  It sits there, but really, for every glance it gets...I give a thousand to the scoreboard...my job, my bank account, my hobbies, my problems, my issues, my problems with my issues, etc.

While I realize I won't be able to bring every thought directly into my relationship with God, what if I could?  What would that change?  Pretty much...everything.

Funny how my thoughts dictate what possesses me.  When I'm fixed on God and his ways, he possesses me with peace and joy and satisfaction. 

When my thoughts turn away from God (unfortunately, my "default condition"), the ways of man and the world possess me and I'm chasing empty goals and life becomes pointless, vain, and depressing.  
 

When God sits down to watch my life, he seldom glances at the scoreboard.  Instead he's locked on to the arrow...monitoring whether my heart is pointed toward him or away.  Because he loves me, he knows how he designed me and wants the very best for me.

 

I'm not implying that the direction of the possession arrow at my last breath determines whether I'm bound for heaven or hell...that would be incorrect.  But I am saying that my life is successful to the extent I'm looking at God's scoreboard rather than my own.