You have 168 hours in a week. In the online world, you track engagement with time spent interacting with your content. We engage with what we feel is valuable. Where we give our time, effort, money, and energy shows what we value. God, naturally, is of great value to the Christian. Or maybe better said, is to be greatly valued by the Christian. So how do we value God? We engage with Him.
Think about how you spend your 168 hours. Where do you engage the most? How do you engage in those areas? You sleep, right? Aren’t you intentional with that? The type of bed? Where your bed is? Is your bed in the kitchen? No. Why? You think about comfort. We are very intentional when it comes to sleep. We engage on social media. We put money into the best phone. We get the right filter. We write out the perfect status. We scroll. We put time in. We engage. We engage with friends by talking, spending time, listening, helping, etc.
We should consider engaging God first in many of the same ways in which we engage in the other areas of our lives. Be intentional to time, location, and methodology. Intentionally remove distractions. Read books on best practices. Download the Bible app or invest in a study Bible. If time with God is important, we must be intentional.
Where do we see this in scripture?
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ~Matthew 6:5-6
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” ~Luke 10:38-42
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. ~1 Peter 2:1-3
5 Let your reasonableness[d] be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 4:5-7
Other passages: Psalm 119, John 15, Hebrews 11, Psalm 63, Psalm 105
What should this mean to us as followers of Jesus?
This is an area all Christians must grow in. It is part of our endless growth. We all have room for improvement. Here’s the question we can ask ourselves: how did I spend time with God this week?
Life is full of distractions. There is a FIGHT for your engagement. No? Plenty of companies pay BIG dollars to get you simply to engage with their “stuff”. Satan fights for your engagement. Plenty of good things become bad things when we are no longer engaging with God. So have we made time with God a priority as a follower of Jesus? How can we improve it? Are we spending time in prayer? In His word? In solitude?
Got any helpful resources?
Yup, check it:
Books: Ordering Your Private World, Dangerous Prayers, Prayer, The Daniel Fast, New Morning Mercies Devotional.
What is one practical step I can do this week?
Map out a 15 minute window of time. Should you give God more time? Yes, we’d all argue that. Your starting point doesn’t need to be your ending point. Take a few moments, map out 15 minutes with Jesus. How would you fill that time to properly engage with God?
Then? Do it. Review it. Strengthen it.
Curious about our other Endless Growth Values?
