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Written by Aaron Sparks
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Friday, 07 November 2008 15:30 |
I realize a lot of you have really busy schedules in your life. Your schedule may include 8 hours of school each day, 4 hours of part-time work at night, 2 hours of homework, sports practice, sports games, 100 hours required community service, and somewhere in all of that you have to fit in eating and 8-10 hours of sleep.
Our culture has done a really good job of pounding into our heads “that if you’re not busy... you must be lazy”, “busy-ness is the way to success”, “time is money”, and etc. We’ve even sanctified busy-ness with “idle hands are the devil’s tools”, which consequently is not found in the bible.
Everything has to be fast, quick, expediant. There’s fast-food to cut down the time it takes to make meals. There’s drive-thru banks, pharmacies, and restaurants because we can’t even take the time to get out of the car and go inside. We have cell phones because we can never be found at home. Text messaging is preferred over actually talking to someone and voicemail because it’s quicker.
Little by little we have managed to snuff out the time we spend with God, and we’ve even begun snuffing out the (real quality)time we spend with people. With this type of lifestyle, it’s become very difficult to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deut 6:5, Mk 12:30) and also to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev. 19:18, Mk 12:31). I mean... who has the time for that sort of thing anymore?
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” -Psa. 46:10
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” -1Th. 5:16-18
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” -Eph. 6:18
“Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” -Luke 5:15
At first it might be difficult to turn off the TV, radio, computer, and sit in silence to spend time with God. It may even be uncomfortable for you. It may bother you to sit still for any period of time longer than ten minutes (if that even). But it is extremely important that we spend time with God. If you’ve never known the joy, or have been comforted by His love, stop everything now and pray for God to reveal himself to you.
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