Spending time with the Lord is essential to your spiritual growth. But how essential is the location where you do that?
I grew up hearing the importance of separating yourself from others, in a dark place, with no noises or distractions…in fact, they called it a “quiet time.” If I couldn’t find “the holy place” and “the holy time” then I needed to evaluate my life’s priorities. Anybody else ever hear that? My question for us today is this:
Is that the only true way to spend time with the Lord?
I was recently talking with a small group leader at Grace, and he said that the most powerful time he had with the Lord recently was when he was on an airplane. Looking out at the open sky, he was able to appreciate, all over again, the beauty, majesty, and power of God.
Each of these statements below represents me, and what I found most important and helpful, at different points in my spiritual journey.
1. It’s vital to spend time with the Lord daily (well, that’s even an understatement…the Bible says, “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)). When I don’t spend time with the Lord daily, my spiritual life shrivels up and dies…quickly.
2. The Lord speaks most clearly and definitively in the Bible. In fact, we need to spend much time in the Bible in order to discern His working and His voice in other areas (such as art, music, nature, etc). When I consistently look to other sources in place of Scripture, I lose focus.
3. God doesn’t live only in a box…especially one of our own creation. Therefore, spending time with the Lord only in a “quiet” box is not only nonessential, but it may also be a detriment (if that’s the only time you have with the Lord). I have to get outside of the box.
4. With our society becoming more and more mobile, it’s not feasible to set aside “quiet” time in the same way that our ancestors did. We need to find different (though not less meaningful) ways to spend time with the Lord. I’m constantly on the go, and if I only spend 10 minutes in the “quiet zone” in the morning, that’s not enough. I have to get creative in the way that I spend time with Him.
5. With our society becoming more and more mobile, we need time set aside to actually be quiet. To still the thousands of voices in our heads. To not hear the cell phone ring. Or our boss yelling. Or our kids yelling. Or the doorbell ringing. Undistracted time is a huge blessing.
Which one (or more) of these statements connects with you right now?
