The enormous sausage in church

On Sunday there was an enormous sausage in church - on top of the pastor’s head.  For the entire time that he preached, it perched precariously, taunting me. Well, okay.  There wasn’t really a sausage.  It just looked like a giant sausage.  It was the top horizontal line of an "F".  The brown font used to display the theme of the message, along with the exact line of site that the pastor stood from me, made it look like he had a really big sausage on his head.   And the short horizontal of the "F" actually looked like a smaller sausage growing out of his ear.  It was really distracting.  I admit that I was hungry and this may have had something to do with my visions of sausages, but it was the font style that was the true culprit.  I tell you, it looked exactly like an enormous sausage.

This is not the first time I have been distracted when I’m supposed to be hearing God’s voice.  Sometimes, I’ve been distracted by something silly, like a Facebook post.  Other times it’s more serious like a concern over a friend or a family member.  Mostly, I find myself distracted by the demands of people around me.  Good people.  Well-meaning people. Instead of listening to hear God’s voice and what He requires of me, I find myself distracted by the influences and demands of others.There’s a wonderful verse that Paul wrote to the Corinthians. “However that may be, let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God has called you …  You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters.”  (1 Cor 7:17+23)This verse tells me four things:

• God has assigned a particular way of life for me (and you)
• I have a unique calling (you too)
• God owns me (and you)
• I do not belong to any one single human nor to a group of humans (nor do you)

The Lord has bought me with a severe price.  I am His.  Yet, I get distracted and so easily find myself a slave to human masters.  I give in to the myriad of requests, influences and demands that come my way and before I know it, I am distracted from what God has for me to do.   If I am not living the life that the Lord has assigned to me, then the things I do that turn me into a slave of human masters become as artificial as a sausage on a pastor’s head. What do you think Paul meant when he said ,“let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned”?