Making Time

June 24, 2021

Pastor Ken Brown Jr

Hi, this is pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…Making Time. Don’t you wish sometimes we could really make time? I could get so much more done…at least that’s what I tell myself because it sounds lofty. Truth of the matter is, if I actually could make time, I would probably produce it into perpetuity so that I could perfect the art of procrastination. We use the phrase ‘make time’ so often it’s surprising we don’t really believe we can…but then that’s not really what we mean is it. What we mean is that we will take time. When we tell someone we will make time for them, what we are really saying is we will take some of the time we have, and dedicate it to them. As a pastor and a counselor I get to ask people on the regular to tell me about their personal relationship with Christ and what that looks like to them. I don’t ask to be judgmental. I simply understand that more Jesus improves any situation and I want to see how I can help them access more Jesus in their own lives. One of the answers I often hear is some variation of; “I know I need to make more time to read my bible. Or, I might hear them say they need to make more time for prayer. They might even say they simply need to make more time for the Lord in their lives. What if that is all upside down? What if we need to be walking so closely with the Lord that we have to interrupt that, to ‘make time’ for the rest of our lives? What if we stopped trying to find time, make time or take time to fit God into our lives and we started trying to fit the daily requirements of our lives into our relationship with God? Scriptures like 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 start to make sense and illustrate that kind of a walk with God to be a possibility. It says: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Paul isn’t suggesting that you and I spend the duration of the day and night on our knees beside our beds 24-7. He is saying that a successful life recognizes the necessity to allow our spirits to be in communication with the Holy Spirit living inside us at all times. Every opportunity that presents itself during any given day should be undertaken only after prayerful consideration as to how God wants us to proceed. We need to be continually in prayer if our every move is to to be calculated and our every word measured so we can best illustrate the immense love of God for those we interact with. Do you know when I have to back track and ask someone to forgive me for not handling a situation correctly that involved them? When I acted from Ken’s direction and not from Christ’s, which by the way I could have had if I had only consulted Him. So which of our relationships with others should we be making sure God shines through us in? All of them! Colossians 3:18-24 says: Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. Wow, Paul didn’t really leave anyone out. Every relationship we have, marriage, as children, (notice there is no caveat for being over 21) as parents, as employers and employees, basically everyone, is to be treated as if that person were Christ Himself! An interesting thing to ponder for certain, how would we treat Jesus if He were our houseguest? Would we run out of the house before we spent any time visiting with Him in the morning? Would we go through our entire day too busy to consider that He was right there with us? Would we go home, rush to get dinner on the table, quickly glance up to thank Him for bringing the groceries and then dive into our meal without another word His way? Would we spend the rest of the evening without another thought to the truth that He was right there sitting on the couch wishing like crazy we would engage in conversation? How would we treat our spouse, our family, our boss, our employees, anyone we encountered if we literally took Him with us everywhere we went for a day, a week, a month? Would we introduce Him to people or just ignore that He was standing there? My toes hurt really bad just considering these things, so don’t be upset with me if yours are a little bruised too. As with all of my ‘Thoughts on a Thursday’ podcasts, I am sharing those things the Lord has been speaking to me about. The things I need to be more diligent with. They are simply my thoughts, if they help you too, great! If not, please encourage me when you see me to get better at my walk with the Lord. I think we all have room to improve at having a life so filled with Him that we have to ‘make time’ for the rest of the world. 1 Corinthians 10:31 sums it up, Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. So now, with priorities straight, fitting what the world wants from you into your walk with your sweet, sweet Savior and Lord…Go be Awesome!