Sometimes it is the simplest of statement that make the
soundest sense. The other morning in
church the pastor up stood in the front of the church congregation and
proclaimed this very statement. “We need
a regular, personal, unhurried time with the LORD daily.” To this thought I
gasped how true. There is nothing overly profound in this and yet it is a
statement that struck true to the heart of many a believer and in doing so made
it soundly profound. There should not
have been one believer in the room who could not have agreed more. Yet I would sadly say that many of the
believers in the room stood silently still because their only answer to this
was a sad guilt of the opposite. How
have we gotten so far as to think that we can go a day without spending time in
the Word of God? How could we think that
we can go hours without muttering a single word of Prayer to our heavenly
Father? We can almost sum it up in one
word “Conformity.”
There is a certain sense of fear I believe often follows the
word “conformity,” in most people because they also fear change and conformity
embraces change. As a biblical counselor
I find that many believers do not mind the idea of conforming as long as it is
God who conforms to their image, not their conforming to God’s. It is at this point that we need to turn to
the Scriptures and a good starting for this is found in Romans 8:29 which says, “For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of
his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Just like in the statement that we have
singled out the root and foundation of conformity in God’s economy. So with this in mind, let’s take a look at
this plea, this challenge that was directed to the members of our church.
To begin with why conformity? I would say that we do so because we honor
God the more we are like Christ. We are
all familiar with Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And be not conformed
to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Our reasonable service is not to be conformed
to this world but to be transformed by the Word and Will of God. This transformation is in all actuality
conformity, it is the transformation takes place as we are conformed into the
image of Christ. So as the Gospel works
with in us we find that we must surrender more and more to God in Christ. Our surrender is a surrender of our will and
is an empting of self so that God can in turn fill us and He does so. “To
reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I
conferred not with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:16) with all that
being said, if I want to bring honor to God and if I want to glorify Christ in
this world than others need to see Christ in me.
Why regular? Because
regular breeds familiarity and this of course leads to consistency which brings
about change. Change is what the Father
wants in us, He want to see His Son in us.
This is why we need to set aside and spend regular time with Him. Notice what David said in Psalm 119:9, "Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy
word." The cleansing of our ways is the removal of sinful selfish
ways. It is a proven fact that the more
we are around someone, the more we become like that person. Also we find in the Scriptures that it was
important for Jesus to take time daily to get alone with the Father and so then
this should be important for us as well.
He spent daily quality time with God the Father so He could answer the
apostles with confidence when they asked Him to show them the Father. “Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the
Father, and it sufficeth us. (9) Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time
with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath
seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? (10) Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the
works.” (John 14:8-10) This is
all evident because He has been spending regular time with the Father. It was not just a routine time but regular,
personal, intimate time with the Father.
Why personal? Because
personal time is more than simply alone time, it is in reference to an intimate
time alone with the Lord. The more
intimate we are with anyone the more we want to be with them and this is so
true when it comes to Jesus. Regular,
personal time with the Lord allows us to get as intimately involved with the
Lord as we possibly can be. It allows us
to develop a right relationship with the Lord.
We should all see the benefit of taking the time to get alone with the
Lord as Jesus did with the Father, and it must be both personal and intimate
time. The Apostle Paul said “For
who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the
mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16)
The way one can truly have the mind of another is through long-term
intimate contact, married couples are living examples to this. Through years of personal intimate contact
they begin to act and think like one.
This is the type of mindset that the Lord want for us, “Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” (Philippians 2:5).
We become more like Christ the more that
we expose ourselves to Him. As a general
rule I have lunch with my father every Friday and those who know him often tell
me I am just like him. Why is that? Because I purposefully spend regular and
personal time with him every week, because I cherish the time that we get to
spend together.
Why unhurried?
Because the truth is, anything worth having, anything worth keeping
requires the giving up of time. Every
good relationship takes time to build. I
am reminded of an old slogan that the Keebler Company used to have, which was, “you can’t rush richness.” How true is that? If you want a relationship that will last,
one that will endure the test of time then it will require that we sacrifice
the time that is needed to develop that relationship. As we noticed earlier in Romans 12:1-2, the
author gave us a hint that time and sacrifice are needed in our relationship
with the Lord and part of that sacrifice was conformity and through conforming
we become transformed by the renewing of our mind. This takes some time and that time like the
transformation cannot be hurried. Jesus
said in John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” Abiding by definition means to continue for a
long time without change, to endure or remain steadfast. Here we see that the Lord tells us to Abide
in Him, he is calling us to come and remain with him. Not to hurry but to rest and patiently endure
in his presence that we can come to the complete knowledge of the Lord. Jesus continued o in John saying, “If
ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7).
An unhurried time in the presence of the Lord will build the
relationship that we need with Him and it will in itself transform into an
intimate relationship. He said “If” we
abide in Him, and “If” His words abide in us, we can ask what we will and it
shall be done unto to us. That is the
true and perfect benefit of an intimate relationship.
Once again, our Pastor stated, “We need a regular, personal,
unhurried time with the LORD daily.”
After pondering this I feel the need to add one more point, and that is:
this time should be uninterrupted.
Why uninterrupted?
Because if it is uninterrupted it will be pure, if it is uninterrupted
it will be genuine, if it is uninterrupted it will be focused, if it is
uninterrupted it will be honoring to Christ, if it is uninterrupted it will be
specific and dedicated time for the Lord, if it is uninterrupted it will be
life changing, if uninterrupted it will become intimate and if it is
uninterrupted it will be unhurried because once this practice starts you will
look forward to it, you will long for it because it will also life
changing. By practicing an uninterrupted
time with the Lord we can slow down, we can calm down so that we can listen for
the still small voice with which He wishes to talk to you by. The further our culture develops the desire
for more multitasking the more selfish it becomes. The faster our culture develops this desire
for multitasking the shallower relationships will become because they lack the
depth that is necessary to develop a strong relationship.
I say all of this first to thank the pastor for his
dedication but also to echo to other that “We need regular, personal, unhurried
and uninterrupted time with the LORD daily.”
Any thought contrary to this would be selfish and in such it will be SIN.
