Making Time for God

Do you ever get to the end of the day and realize that you didn't think about God once?  Maybe you missed your devotion time that day or you never once thought to pray to Him about that tough situation you are facing.  Does it ever feel like God gets forgotten in the busyness of daily life?

How do we make time for God?

I am proposing an attitude check to get us on the right path.  Christian author and speaker Leslie Ludy once said, "Stop trying to fit [Christ] into your life; instead, build your life around [Him]."  Maybe it seems like God doesn't fit into your life, but what if we made God the ultimate focus of our life and let all of the other little details fall into place around Him?  Let's make God be the foundation and the reason behind everything that we do and stop trying to fit Him into a little tiny hole that we have created in the midst of all of our daily activities.  Is God the focus of your life, or are you trying to squeeze Him into the moments in between activities?

How do you make God the focus of your life?

In her book, Authentic Beauty:  The Shaping a Set-Apart Young Woman, Leslie Ludy writes, "When we are passionately in love with our Prince, we put Him above all else--not just in theory, but also practically, in every moment of our day-to-day lives.  We do not live for the applause of heaven.  Our longings are not for people's approval but only for more and more of Him.  We are marked by an effortless, unshakable strength that is found in the presence of our perfect Lover."  The Bible tells us to "Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."  (Colossians 3:1-2)  Making God the focus of your life is a daily struggle to keep your eyes on Him and not to get distracted by the things of this world.  It is a conscious choice to hand the "reins" over to Him and allow God to guide your decisions and to be the ultimate authority of your life.

What are practical ways that we can make time for God?

Life happens, and people get busy, so how do we still make sufficient time for disciplines like prayer and Bible study?  Start with a simple evaluation of the time you spend on various activities.  Keep a record of approximately how much time you spend at school, sports, surfing the internet, on social media sites, watching TV, hitting the snooze button...  You may be surprised at the amount of time that you are spending on "unnecessary" activities.  Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that any of these things are inherently wrong, but it is good to evaluate what our priorities are.

Once you have taken a look at the amount of time that you are spending on various activities, start to think about which one (or ones) you could cut back on so that you have room in your schedule for God.  If you aren't willing to cut back on an activity or hobby that is eating up your time in order to spend time with God, you should probably reevaluate how much importance you are placing on that activity--anything that we put above God or higher than God is called an idol.

A warning:

I understand how hard it is to find time to spend with God in the busyness of daily life, but time in the Word and in prayer is vital to a relationship with Jesus and cannot be neglected.  If it is neglected, the relationship will become stagnant and the Christian will stop growing in their faith.  At this point, the Christian is at increased risk of being tempted away from their faith because they are not spending time investing in it like they should be.

Don't let yourself become that Christian!  Make time to spend with God!  I can guarantee you that spending time with Him will be more rewarding in the long run than whatever you have to give up in order to do it.