Time flies
First of
“I can’t believe it is already 2019!
I just came home from a visit to my in-laws and my mother in law said the same, “I can’t believe it is already 2019! I remember that it was turning 2000, the millennium year, what a panic did that cause and now it is already 19 years later” Even I remember when it became the year 2000, I’m really getting older, it is a fact….
A fresh start
We are standing at the beginning of a new year, do you have specific plans for this year? Special events coming up? Things to look forward to? A new year often gives us the feeling of a new start, a time of starting over or making a fresh start. A lot of people make new years resolutions. Maybe you yourself also have some.
Resolutions
When it comes to God and my personal relationship with Him, I often make new resolutions. I want to spend more time in prayer, read more in His Word, I want to have more quality time with Him etc. The thing is, this is a yearly returning (sometimes weekly returning) resolution. Maybe this is recognizable for you? Where does this resolution comes from?
And this leads to feeling guilty
Resolutions are things we want to approve, do more or less, want to be better at, things we weren’t satisfied about when we look at the past year. What makes a lot of us unsatisfied about our relationship with God? We never think it was enough. There are days we pray 5 minutes, there are days we pray 10 minutes, but sometimes there is a day that we don’t take the time to pray at all, or read in His word. And this leads to feeling guilty. So we want to do better. W
Love is our motivation
Well, let me tell you something. God is happy with every moment we spend with Him, He is not angry about the moments that we don’t. Guilt should not be leading us to spend more time with God, but our love for Him should do that. It’s a good thing to want to spend more time in His word or in prayer, but we have to check our motivation to do so. It should not be out of guilt or shame or fear, but out of knowing that God is our loving Father and He loves it when we seek Him and bet to know Him better.
Connect to His channel with love
When you want to listen to a certain radio station you have to find the right channel. When you are on the wrong frequency, you won’t hear a thing, you have to finetune to hear the result you were looking for. Well, the frequency God is using is love. You get connected to His channel through love. He loves you and He promise us in His Word that He will be with us, always.
He is there with you
Love, we are all familiar with it, we use it daily in our relationships with our family and friends. My husband and I enjoyed the past week. We were both free from work and had some great quality time. Watching a movie together on the couch, playing a game, shopping, enjoying a meal together or sometimes just being together is enough. But it isn’t always like that, there are also times when we are both busy and we rarely speak to each other. I finish a work task while he puts the kids to bed, he goes to a meeting while I prepare a meal etc. But we are aware of the love we have for each other.
God is only a prayer away
It is the same with God. When you are at the soccer field cheering for your kids, Jesus is next to you cheering along. When you are busy at work, He is there with you. God is never more than a prayer away. He loves it when you take quality time with Him, but He also loves it to be involved in all you do. Not every moment we spend with God will be wonderful and amazing and feels like we are in heaven. There are also times that it will be a quick prayer while we drive our car, a thought we share with Him while preparing the meal.
Remember God is happy with every moment we spend with Him, but guilt
or fear should not be leading to us spending more time with God. Our love for Him should do that.
Read also Steadfast unconditional love
