By Leslie Ludy
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Colossians 3:2
God has entrusted us with the precious gift of time. Twenty-four hours in every day; seven days in a week; every day significant, every hour important, every moment of value to God. Yet how many of those moments are truly being used for His glory? If we are honest, many of us would have to admit that though we profess Jesus Christ to be our highest priority, our lives proclaim something quite different.
A Christian young woman recently confessed to me, “I spend more time on Facebook than I do in prayer or studying the Word of God.”
That’s the sad reality most of us are living in.
It’s easy to think of our time, especially our free time, as belonging to us; that it’s our right to do whatever we feel like doing in those “down” moments of the day. But when we come to Christ, we are to lay everything at His feet - including our time. As Leonard Ravenhill said, “What does it mean to be a Christian? Your life is hid with Christ. You have no time of your own, no money of your own; Christ must become your complete Master.”
God has continued to challenge me with this statement - down to the very details of how I spend each moment of the day. And I have discovered that when we lay everything at the feet of Jesus and find our deepest fulfillment, rest, peace, strength, and joy in His presence alone – not dulling our spiritual lives with worldly counterfeits – we are ushered into the supernatural, superhuman existence in which God designed us to live. That’s when the presence of God draws near. That’s when our prayers are heard and answered. That’s when the life we read about in Scripture actually becomes our reality.
Most of us constantly battle with the fact that God is distant, intimacy with Christ is difficult to obtain, and our prayers don’t seem to be heard. But God says, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).
Today’s young women aren't finding Him because we aren't searching for Him with all our hearts. We are too preoccupied with checking our Facebook, watching reality shows, downloading the latest songs on iTunes, and obsessing over Hollywood’s newest production to let our entire beings be poured forth in constant and unreserved devotion in the service of the Lord who died to save us.
Most of us feel that we don’t have enough time for prayer and seeking God. But we don’t even consider giving up our nightly TV time, our weekend movie fests, or our iTunes fetish in exchange for spending time in His presence.
Whether we spend our best hours socializing on Facebook, texting about trivialities, rushing to the latest Twilight movie, or vegging in front of the newest reality TV show - the majority of our time is being given to things that are not of eternal value; and often, things that are downright dangerous to our souls. Most of us are far more influenced by pop culture than we are by the Word of God. We can quote our favorite lines from 100 different chick flicks, but the only Scripture we know is John 3:16.
It’s no wonder that Christ feels distant.
Only when we are willing to give Him the best hours of our day - rather than whatever is left after we've wasted most of our time on selfish pleasure - will we truly experience vibrant intimacy with our Heavenly King.
