When was the last time you spent time with God? Like really, sat, listened, read, or talked. Sometimes I find myself avoiding God. Not wanting to set away time to spend with Him. Do you tend to say, “At the beginning of the month I’ll start actively studying my Bible, or when the school year starts, or when Christmas is over, or when…” etc. etc. etc.
The start date keeps getting pushed back. Or you have the time to spend with God but you don’t have the motivation to do so? Or you are studying your Bible persistently, but your mind keeps trailing off and keeps getting distracted by your phone or thinking about what you are doing tonight.
I think we all have times like this. Times where we know the power of God, we know what He can do, but nothing is going wrong in life, in fact it’s quite great. So why do we need God? Or everything is going wrong in life, and we want to feel sorry for ourselves or we want to be mad at God, at least for a little while. We know we should spend time with Him, we know it will make us feel better but we just don’t.
Psalm 91:1 “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
We all fail sometimes. We are all sinners, so we are going to have phases like this, but it’s not okay to permanently live like this. We need God in order to grow. If we aren’t talking to God or listening, or reading, or just being surrounded by Him we are staying stagnant in our faith. And that’s not okay. Not only is it important to be with God but to focus on God. In order to grow we have to let “steadfastness have its full effect”.
James 1:4 “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” What does that mean? It means we have to allow our life circumstances to teach us. We can read the Bible all we want but if we don’t take it to heart it isn’t going to do anything. We can talk to God all we want but if we aren’t actively listening for an answer we won’t benefit from the relationship we have with Him.
God wants to spend time with us. He wants us to dedicate time to Him. Our relationship with God is just like any other relationship. We have to communicate and spend time with each other. If we don’t we will never learn anything about God. We will only grow farther and farther apart. I know sometimes it’s hard to set aside time, I know sometimes we are lazy, and I know sometimes we don’t have the attention span to read. But in order to grow we have to invest. Just like in life, if you really care for something you will find the time, you will find the will, and you will find the focus. God is the maker of all, He loves you and cares for you. He wants to spend time with you, but He gives us the freedom to plan our hangouts.
Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
Growing a relationship with God is easy, just spend time with Him, invest in your relationship, and let Him be the ruler over your life. God is trustworthy. He only wants the best for you. He loves you so much that He died on the cross for you. He had nothing to gain from that, but He did it because He wanted to save you from eternal death. He gave you eternal life. Why wouldn’t you want a relationship with Him, who did all that for you?
Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
