October I seemed to neglect the blog a little bit. Well, not a little bit, a lot! But November is a new month and I am back at it.
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In my grandfather’s most recent interview with Greta Van Susteren, she asked him to reflect on his lifetime and wondered what he would change, if he could. As his granddaughter, the answer was shocking.
He responded that he would spend more time praying and studying the Scripture.
To be honest, in that moment, I felt ashamed. There are no other words for it. If Billy Graham doesn’t believe he spent enough time praying and meditating, what about the rest of us?
Even though my grandfather is about to turn ninety-three years old, I am often challenged by his example.
Truth is, not one person will ever spend enough time with the Lord. How can we put a limit on time spent with the Creator of the universe, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords?
All day, every day, we have excuses for why we haven’t spent time with the Lord. We live in a fast-paced, demanding society that pulls us in all directions, and most of the time we have reasonable excuses. But one day, when we stand before the Lord in all of His heavenly glory, what will those excuses sound like?
How many worthless hours of my life did I spend in front of the television or computer? How many hours of my life did I spend fixing my hair and makeup? How many hours did I spend cleaning my house? Why did I spend days reading meaningless books?
At the end of the day, when I finally lay my head on my nice Tempur-Pedic pillow, many times I realize I only gave my Heavenly Father twenty minutes of the day. And often, I give myself a pat on the back for that. Twenty minutes a day is probably more than most people, right? But who am I kidding? What are twenty minutes compared to the accumulated time I spend browsing the internet, stalking people on Facebook, or flipping through television channels?
In a recent Bible study, we asked the question, “Why is it so easy for us to put the Lord on the back burner every morning?” Well, I personally believe it is because we know we won’t experience immediate repercussions. It is not like a job – if we don’t perform we are fired, or like school – if we don’t study we fail the test. He isn’t going to scorn us for showing up late. No; we know that God will be there. He will still wait for us with His loving arms wide open when we decide to return.
But come on people, if Prince William was waiting for us each day, eager to be our friend so he could comfort us and love on us, what would we be doing? We would spend hours trying to figure out what to wear and days researching his interests so we would know everything about him. Heaven knows we wouldn’t say, “Sorry Prince William, I was too busy today. Maybe tomorrow.” No; we would run towards him. But let’s be honest, Prince William doesn’t wait for anyone, he would never meet with just any commoner for tea, and he wouldn’t love us if we stood him up every day.
But we already have it so much better. We can talk with the King of Kings everyday. We don’t have to spend hours getting ready; we can come just the way we are. And He wants us to get to know Him. He wants to spend time with us. And better than Prince William, He wants to spend more than twenty minutes with us.
Isn’t that the beauty of serving a God who extends grace and mercy? He could’ve made us love Him. We could’ve been forced to worship Him, but that wouldn’t have been love. Instead, we have to choose to love Him. It’s a choice. And it is a choice we must make every day.