I have a question for you and the topic is “friendship.” What is one thing we never seem to have enough of when it comes to our friends?
Time.
Do you agree with me? As I think back over my life and the time that I have spent with friends, it always seems so short. As kids, we would agree to go ask our parents if we could extend our time to a sleep over. Sometimes trying to hangout for the whole weekend.
In High School, a neighborhood friend went to a different school, but as soon as we got home we would call to hangout, until parents called us in.
As an adult, when I go to visit friends and their families, the days pass quickly and the time comes where I have to leave, only to feel like we have just begun.
Why do we want more time with our friends? Because we love them.
Spoiler alert: I am going to do a Jesus Juke on you…
How much time do you spend with Jesus?
My intention is not to play the role of the Holy Spirit and cause guilt or shame in you. I hope as you read through stories of desiring time with friends brought back some of your own memories and good feelings. But I want you to really press in to this idea of desiring to spend time with the ones you love, and bend that toward your relationship with Jesus.
Jesus was asked this question: Matthew 22:36–38
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.
The most important commandment for us to pursue is to love God with our entire being. Notice how the command starts with “your heart”, the seat of desire. Desire – a strong wanting to have something, to long for, hope for, and have an emotion for, desire.
What we don’t always recognize is that the longing, aching, of our heart at the deepest level is a yearning for our Creator, to know Him and be known by Him. Only in prioritizing the love for Him over all else will we understand the beauty and joy of all other relationships and gifts from God.
Like our love for our friends, love for God should produce a desire to spend time with Him. The amazing thing about God is that He is omnipresent (everywhere at all times), therefore it is possible to spend time with God a whole lot, if we are aware of His presence.
Yet, we need to be intentional about setting times or ways of being with God. Attending church, small group, youth group, and other studies is one great way to learn more about God. Missions trips, retreats and camps are other great options. However, we need something even more intimate that will focus our attention on the heart of our God in such that grows our relationship with Him.
Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Here, the psalmist elicits a command from God for us to “be still” or to “quiet” ourselves before God. This is the idea behind the phrase “Quiet Time.” A quiet time is a time set aside to be still, to reflect on God, to listen to God and to become more like God. It is a time to become more devoted to the God you love by listening to His Word, the Bible.
Now the Bible is a big book, actually it is a library of 66 books. It can be intimidating and it can be difficult to figure out how to approach it. However, the more time we spend in it, the more we will see why we need it and how we can understand it. For instance, let’s look at Psalm 119:9-16. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible with 176 verses. Only 7 of the verses do not specifically mention God’s Word in some way. It is a chapter that tells us of the importance of God’s Word.
Psalm 119:9–16
9 How can a young person keep their way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!
13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
Now that we have considered the importance of love, desire, time, quiet and God’s Word, let’s look at what the psalmist wants us to gather from God’s Word.
Verse 9 – purity, or doing what is right, is accomplished by obeying the Word of the Lord
Verse 10 – whole hearted pursuit of God means holding fast to His commands
Verse 11 – memorizing God’s Word prevents sin
Verse 12 – praise be to God, he instructs us in His ways
Verse 13 – we need to speak the word of God to others
Verse 14 – Following God’s ways are more desirable than earthly wealth
Verse 15 – being intentional to dwell on God’s Word with our mind and our eyes
Verse 16 – taking joy in God’s Word will prevent forgetting His Word
The end goal of a Quiet Time with God is to know Him and become more like Him. It starts first with our desires for Him and time with Him. As our desire for Him and time with Him grows, we will see our lives changing and our minds conforming to be more like Jesus. It takes diligence and patience, but it is the promised result of spending time with Him.
I’ve recently chosen to use the Word of Life Quiet Time journals to be a resource to our youth group in digging in to God’s Word. It’s a resource that makes knowing what to read easy, and it is a good way of being accountable in the practice. There are other good resources, and some have developed their own pattern. The most important part is that we are in God’s Word to spend time with Him.
Loving Jesus should produce a desire to be with Him more and more. He wants to spend time with you and desires you to spend time with Him. Don’t wait until tomorrow, start today!
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