Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Put Time With God First

“But the guests he had invited ignored them and went about their business, one to his farm, and another to his store.” -- Matthew 22:5

What’s your excuse? What didn’t you have time for today? What did you mean to do but just never get around to doing? Did you pray? Did you read your Bible? Did you study it? Did you wait and listen for God to speak to you? Oh, you didn’t have time.

We all set our priorities each day. We may not have a to-do list. We might not even consciously make decisions about what is most important. But our choices through the day reflect our priorities. So we have time to facebook. We’ve got time for a nice lunch with friends. We’ve got time to take the kids to multiple activities. We have time to play golf or watch the football game or attend a concert.

But do we have time for God? Well? We mean to. We do. We have good intentions. It’s just that somehow God never seems to make it to the priority list. Until we need Him. Then He’s at the top of the list.

That doesn’t seem right or fair. How would we feel about a friend who only made time for us when they needed something from us? We’d feel used. We’d feel rejected. We’d probably reach a point rather quickly where we didn’t want to spend time with them at all. Yet God always takes us back. What an imaginable love that is!

The thing is we’re so busy with the things of life that it’s easy to lose our anchor. We get overwhelmed. We lose our purpose. We climb on the merry-go-round and it keeps speeding up, going faster and faster, when all we really want to do is get off and rest a while.

Because our anchor is God. He’s the One that keeps us upright when everything around us is falling apart. God is the One who reminds us that people matter more than things. God provides rest for our souls when we are so overwhelmed that we seem frozen where we are.

Pastor Rob suggested that we make a point of setting priorities each day. Otherwise, he said, the important things get crowded out by the things that seem most urgent. When spending time with God comes first, we have time for what’s important no matter what else the day brings. And we have strength to make it through. When we reserve time to come to God’s banquet, all the rest of life will fall into place. That’s what Pastor Rob said. Sounds like solid advice to me.