Introduction
At
a Christian church camp I attended there were a series of various talks given
on different aspects of the Christian life. One of the talks had to do with
quiet time or times of solitude spent with God. It was an interesting talk
which raised the importance of time spent with God and how much of a priority
this is in our lives.
Important
questions were also raised and discussed about what does it mean to be in
solitude, how do we do it, and what is the purpose in doing it? And there was
raised the question, why do we find it so hard to be in solitude? It is this
question I’d like to address here because I believe it is at the heart of why
our Christian lives often lack close intimacy with God and as a result why
there can be a lack of knowledge as to who God is and why we do not believe in
him as much as we could or trust in him as assuredly as we should. On the level
of sanctification it is also why we are not as loving as we could be to those
both in the church and outside. So what reasons do we usually give for finding
it hard to be in solitude?
The
Reasons
(1) We are too busy and never seem to have the
time. With work, family, friends, church ministries, sports, and other
commitments, the time available is limited and we just never seem to have enough
time to do all the things we want to do. How am I going to find time to be
alone when so many people and things need my attention? So one of the reasons
we give for not spending time with God is a lack of time, or business.
(2) While spending time with God is important
there are equally as important things such as caring for other people, loving
them, helping them in word and deed. So the desire to be in fellowship, caring
for and loving brothers and sisters, as well those who are non-believers takes
up a lot of our time. And after all aren’t we doing what Jesus really wants us
to be doing by spending as much time with the church family, and those who are
outside the church as we possibly can? So another reason we give for not
spending time with God is because of the need for fellowship and building
relationships.
(3) Some say that spending time in solitude is
easier for an introvert but I am an extrovert and I find it really hard. I’m
just not wired the same way as those introverts, and while it comes naturally
for them to be alone with God, for me, being the people person I am, I find it
hard to be in a silent place with God. So another reason we give for not
spending time with God is because we are wired in a certain way that makes it
hard.
(4) For many of us we find it hard to go to God
because of our sin and the sense of shame and guilt that we feel. We look at ourselves
and look at a holy God and think how can I be with him after what I have done.
I just don’t deserve to be with him. I don’t measure up. I don’t belong with
him. I’m so sinful, so much of a rebel, so guilty. The last place I should be
is with God. And so another reason we give is because we feel that we are too
sinful, too unholy, too unrighteous, too unworthy to be with God.
(5) Maybe we see God in a certain way. Maybe we have
had a less than ideal relationship with our own father. He was always angry
with them. He was distant. Never seemed to love them very much. Never seemed to
care. He was there but never involved. And so we see God in the same light. We
cast the way our earthly fathers related to us onto God. And so God is angry with
me especially when I sin. He is never pleased with anything I do. He never
seems to care. He doesn’t seem to love us very much. He is there but never
intimate always distant. He is a judge but never the loving father. And so
another important reason for not spending time with God is how we see him and
how we think he sees us.
So these are some of the
reasons we give for not being able to be in solitude. Another question arises.
Are they valid? Are these good reasons for why we should not spend time with
God?
Are
these Good Reasons?
(1) While it is true that we are busy (some are
busier than others) we can generally find time for things such as watching a
movie, reading a good book, going fishing or tramping, going on a holiday,
having a coffee with a friend, playing sports, playing and listening to music
and many other activities, yet we are too busy to spend time with God. It’s not
a matter of time but it is a matter of priority. Too often we just don’t find
God important enough compared with all the other things in life that we can spend
time on. So we never make the time though we make time for so many other
things. And as a consequence we simply don’t meet with him.
(2) While Jesus taught that we are to love one
another with the same love with which he has loved us, it is not the most important
priority he gives to the Christian. When the lawyer asked Jesus, “Teacher,
which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus replied to him,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and
first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as
yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
How can a person love God in this way if they do spend time with him? And how are they going to love other people unless they spend time with God to hear from him and be changed by him so that they are able to love them as they should? Too often we place the horse before the cart. We put people before God rather than God before people. In other words we find time with people more important than time with God. The most important priority that Jesus gives to the Christian is to be with God and to love him as he loves them and from this the fruit of love towards others grows.
(3) It is simply not true that it is easy or even
easier for an introvert to spend time with God. It is just as easy for an
introvert to avoid spending time with God by doing things by themselves as it
is for an extrovert to avoid spending time with God by doing things with other
people. It is not true that one is more wired to be spend time with God than
another. We are wired the same way. We would rather do pretty much about
anything else apart from spending quiet time with God.
(4) In
Jesus Christ all our sins are forgiven. God the Father forgives us for the sins
of the past, present and future, because Jesus Christ died for them. There on
the cross the great transaction took place. Jesus took our sin, bore the
punishment, and he gave us his perfect righteous obedience. We are forgiven and
we are as righteous as Jesus Christ. We are free to come. In fact God wants us
to come. He wants to spend time with his righteous children all of who he calls
saints. The greatest pleasure for God is to spend time with you and me because
as we spend time with him we enjoy him and as we enjoy him he is glorified and
when he is glorified that is his greatest pleasure.
(5) The relationships with our earthly
fathers are not as loving as, faithful as, caring, and as close as they could
be because they are fallible. They are sinful fathers and because of this they
fail us in more ways than one. They say they will be there and they are not.
They say they love us only to hit us for no good reason. We try to be close
with them and they just want to push us away. So our relationships with our
fathers are often hurtful rather than loving.
But this is quite different from God the Father. He loved us even when we did not love him so much so that he sent his Son to die for us. He loves us now with as much intensity and intimacy as he loves his own Son. He adopted us when there was nothing in us that would catch his eye so that he would adopt us. This love which is from one who is always caring, faithful, merciful, forgiving and full of grace has nothing to do with our deserving it or earning it. God loves us because he is our Father and we are his children. Where our earthly fathers have let us down and caused us hurt God the Father can never let his children down nor does he ever do that which will hurt his children. All that God does is for the good those who love him. Therefore the Christian can go in confidence to him.
The Real Reasons
To end I believe
there are three main ultimate reasons why we find it hard to spend time with
God. These lie behind all the other reasons we put up as to why we find it hard
to be in solitude and they are at the heart of the matter when it comes to
answering the question, why? So
here are the deeper reasons (the reasons behind the reasons) for why I believe
we find it hard to spend time with God.
Loved by God
The first
ultimate reason is we do not fully realize how much God loves us. If we did we
would know how much God enjoys being with us. Too often the Christian sees God
as loving and hating him. Loving him when he does good. Hating him when he does
bad. Wanting to be with him when he does the right things. Being disappointed
to the point that he can’t stand the sight of him when he does the wrong
things. And so we have two coats in our closet. One says, “I am a good person
and God loves me” and we wear this when we are doing the right things and we are making positive progress with
old sins. The other coat says, “I am a bad person and God does not love me” and
we wear this when we are not doing so well when it comes to doing the right
things and when we fall back into old sins.
The truth is
there is only one coat that God has given us to wear and this coat says, “you
are greatly loved.” This coat is permanently to be worn. We can try and take it
off but God will only put it back on again. It is the identity God has given us
in Jesus Christ. And this identity is based upon the commitment God has made
towards us in Jesus Christ and has nothing whatsoever to do with how we are
doing or how we are feeling. He freely and joyfully loves us not just some of
the time, say when our obedience is pretty good and we think we are measuring
up, but all of the time. When we see ourselves in this way we will want to
spend time with him. Here are some scriptures that talk about God’s love for
you in Jesus Christ;
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down
one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son.”
(John 3:16)
“God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“In this the love of God was manifest towards us,
that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live
through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)
Know that for
God the Father to send his Son to die and for Jesus to go through all that he
went through the Father and the Son must really love you. Go and be with them.
Love for God
The second ultimate reason is we do not
love God as we should. It is not that we do not love God at all. No one can be
a Christian apart from love for God. But it is because we do not love him
enough. That is why we cannot make the time to spend with him. Instead we let
other things come in and steal away the time we could be spending with him.
That is why we find time with people far important than time with God. That is
why introverts are so easily drawn to do other things alone, and why extroverts
are drawn to do other things with people, rather than being intentional, and
being with God. It is, when all is said and done because we do not love him
enough. It is to do with our hearts and how important and how great a priority
we see our relationship with God. When we place love for God above all other
loves we will find the time, we will be intentional, and we will spend more
time with God.
God said,
“Let
not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his
might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast
in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices
steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I
delight, declares the LORD.”
(Jeremiah
9:23-24)
The highest priority for the Christian
is to know God. This is why we were created, to know God and through knowing
him enjoy him and glorify him forever. It’s seems so important then that we
start to know him now as the treasure that he is if we want to be happy and
bring glory to him. For as the Psalmist
wrote,
“You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of
joy;
and at your right hand are pleasures
forever more.”
(Psalm 16:11)
Love for People
In the course of life we all meet up with brothers and sisters for coffee, or for a meal, or some other activity, but ask yourself how often do you talk about God? How well equipped are you to speak the truth of the bible? Do you speak about such things in such a way that you get to the heart of where they are at? Do you encourage them from the scriptures and remind them of the gospel and who they are in Christ? Do you remind them that God loves them? It is possible to meet up with people and never speak anything of any eternal good and of no spiritual depth but have conversation after conversation without ever getting to God. But what people need most is God. They need to hear about him constantly, especially his love, grace, forgiveness, and mercy for them.
But how are we
going to speak such truths if we do not spend time with God to get to know him?
How are we going to point people to Christ if we do not spend time with him? So
the final reason is that we do not realize the benefit our time with God has
for others. If we did we would spend more time with God. And so we need to see
solitude not only as being for us but also as being for those who we love. It
is from spending time with God that we are better able to speak the truth about
God and Christ into their lives, and so we love them by pointing them to the
one they need the most.
No comments:
Post a Comment