Spending Time

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How many mornings will I have in my life? I spend most mornings reading my bible and talking to God. Ever since I turned my life over to Him in 1999, this has been my habit. He dramatically saved our marriage that year, and I realized I needed to be near Him if I wanted to live a life that was good.

Some mornings I FEEL Him in my heart, some mornings I don't. Most mornings I have to fight the distraction of daydreaming when I really want to engage with Him, or the distraction of the news, or even "studying" the Bible for a kids church lesson I need to get ready, or whatever. To actually settle my heart and talk and listen to God...to let myself "be" in His presence...I am running about a 30 percent success rate.

This morning, it struck me: how many mornings will I have to press into Him? To get to know Him on this side of eternity? To carry the fragrance of His presence and the light of His face into a world that mostly doesn't know Him. I can't carry something I don't have. How many mornings will I let distraction keep me from drawing on the well of His goodness and mercy? How many mornings will I start without gazing on His beauty and hearing the whisper of His joy over me and my circumstances?

We live in a unique season of history. What we do really matters. How we live really matters. The decisions we make in the short 70 or 80 years we have on this side of the veil of eternity carry with them eternal consequences on the other side. Consequences of glory and loss. This is almost unknown, even in the Church, but Jesus said there are rewards for what we do and consequences for what we neglect.

God made us to spend time with Him. There are a lot of other things God desires for us, but to spend time with Him is our main function. Jesus summed up the first commandment like this: love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. I want to make the first commandment, the most important thing for a person to do to please God, first in my life. It is worth the effort to cut through the haze of distraction.

It takes God to love God. What I have found in those moments when I really connect with God and encounter His presence is that I withdraw before He does. I need to continue to "ask, seek, and knock" for Him to increase the capacity of my heart to experience Him more and more.

Psalm 103:1 Praise the LORD, my soul!

All my being, praise his holy name!

2 Praise the LORD, my soul,

and do not forget how kind he is.

3 He forgives all my sins

and heals all my diseases.

4 He keeps me from the grave

and blesses me with love and mercy.

5 He fills my life with good things,

so that I stay young and strong like an eagle.

6 The LORD judges in favor of the oppressed

and gives them their rights.

7 He revealed his plans to Moses

and let the people of Israel see his mighty deeds.

8 The LORD is merciful and loving,

slow to become angry and full of constant love.

9 He does not keep on rebuking;

he is not angry forever.

10 He does not punish us as we deserve

or repay us according to our sins and wrongs.

11 As high as the sky is above the earth,

so great is his love for those who honor him.

12 As far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our sins from us.

13 As a father is kind to his children,

so the LORD is kind to those who honor him.

14 He knows what we are made of;

he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for us, our life is like grass.

We grow and flourish like a wild flower;

16 then the wind blows on it, and it is gone—

no one sees it again.

17 But for those who honor the LORD, his love lasts forever,

and his goodness endures for all generations

18 of those who are true to his covenant

and who faithfully obey his commands.

19 The LORD placed his throne in heaven;

he is king over all.

20 Praise the LORD, you strong and mighty angels,

who obey his commands,

who listen to what he says.

21 Praise the LORD, all you heavenly powers,

you servants of his, who do his will!

22 Praise the LORD, all his creatures

in all the places he rules.

Praise the LORD, my soul!

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