Friday, May 14, 2010

Routine, routine

I read a very interesting devo in Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest the other night... I hadn't read it in a few days, I guess I had gotten out of the habit. Well... funny... because the entry I read was about making a habit about spending time with God and having a quiet time with just you and Him. Chambers was saying that we really need to be careful to not let spending time with God become spending time with our habit. It sometimes becomes something that we just get so used to doing that we kind of don't even take it seriously or even think about what we're reading or praying. Spending time with God shouldn't be something that we check off of our list... it should be something that we will do without a shadow of a doubt... knowing Jesus should become such a part of our lives that it doesn't feel like a habit... it feels like a lifestyle. Sometimes we get so caught up in having our devotional at the same time every day that we miss out on things and actually kind of push people out of our lives... it becomes something that makes us unsocial and kind of selfish... it isn't about spending time with God anymore, it's about making ourselves feel like we are these good Christians... it gives us a feeling of accomplishment... it's kind of false christianity in a way. It's like... Church on Sundays, praying before we eat, quiet time before going to bed or when we wake up makes us feel good... like we've done our part to stay a Christian. Sometimes we forget that nothing can take away the fact that we will always be Christians and that God is always with us... not just in church or when we pray or when we have a quiet time... ALWAYS every second of the day. I think if more people were constantly aware of Jesus in their lives that they wouldn't feel this craving to make Jesus a habit.

I don't know... that entry that Chambers wrote just kind of grabbed me. I totally know that feeling,.. I mean I was in Bible school and experienced the habit... I saw other people with the same habit... I have just gotten back into having it a habit... I don't want to spend time with God because I feel obligated... I want to spend time with Him because I want to get to know Him better.

Try and be more aware of God's presence every moment... (it's not that hard) maybe then you'll start to have lots of mini quiet times with Him all day long which is probably growing you more than just one while you're half asleep before or after bed. :)

2 comments:

  1. Good things to think about, Lisa. It's totally true for me too, and I'd rather have quiet times to get to know Him better, not just to check them off my list. Thanks for posting that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. good stuff.
    i like to pray that God's character and holiness will consume my thoughts. Then I find myself praising Him for everything! Even the little things that were so inconsequential just minutes before.

    -tim

    ReplyDelete