God Driven, Not Goal Driven

Psalm 31:15-16

My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!

Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!

Matthew 6:27

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? (or a single cubit to his stature)

(Some translations add this phrase. I always throw it in because I’ve been trying to add height to my stature for my entire life. So far, no good.)

The only non-renewable resource we have is that of time. We can earn more money, grow more trees, dig for more water, mine for more gold. But time – God numbered our days before we were even born. Since I wasn’t alive 125 years ago, so I can’t say this for certain, but I believe time had a different set of rules. When I think about the life my grandparents had in very rural South Dakota, I know that it was mostly about survival. Where was the food coming from? Was the current blizzard going kill the animals? How would the crops fare in yet another year of drought? When it took the kids over an hour to get to school on horseback – well, that sets the tone for the whole day.

Today, we spend our time differently. Food procurement doesn’t depend on the weather (most of the time) and getting the kids to school doesn’t take long, at least for most families. Then when you add the time spent on social media, watching TV, working out at the gym (my grandma would have laughed long and loud about that one – everyday was a workout for her), time slips through our hands.

And how does all this relate to our devotional lives? You already know what I’m going to say. There has to be an intentional addition to each day for that to happen. And when it gets pushed aside for the long list of “gotta do’s”, well that happens too. Unfortunately, we set devotional goal for ourselves and then rarely meet them. How many times have you looked at your own personal devotional life and then compared it to all of the amazing things people post on our social media pages and thought, I can’t do that or I’m way behind?

Read the following sentence twice: There is no such thing as behind when it comes to your devotional life. Our devotions are in the moment, right now. You can never be behind on right now. Just think about a significant relationship in your life (spouse, child, parent, best friend). What if you thought, “Oh, I talked to them last month. We’re good.” How long would the relationship remain healthy? Instead, how about, “Oh, I haven’t talked with them for to long. We need to catch up.” You’re not behind. You’re looking at the moment. It’s time to catch up. Your devotional life can be seen in much the same way. God isn’t keeping score. He’s not tapping the calendar when He thinks of you and is angry because you haven’t met your devotional goals. He hasn’t set any goals for you. He wants to interact with you, but it’s not just something to add to your calendar. It’s far more than that.

Common Book Devotional Journaling Calendar

At Visual Faith® Ministry, we offer dozens of spiritual / devotional pathways. But not a single one of them is a forced march. Last month, I had the same crud that everyone else in the country had. It was miserable. And for the worst 3 days (because that one lasted for weeks!) I didn’t touch my devotional books. I lay on my couch – all day. And when the crud was gone, I wrote “sick” and “grace” on those squares in my devotional calendar. There was no goal. I didn’t feel the need to “catch up”. That was going to bite into my time in that moment with God. Instead of keeping up a standard that no one had set for me (except perhaps self-induced), I spent time with God and moved on through the day. There’s also no right or wrong way to be with God. Do it in a way that is meaningful for you.

It's important every now and then that we encourage our practitioners with this way of approaching your time with God. There is no room for comparisons to the God-given skills and talents of others, and there’s no room for perfect completion of every project or practice. There is only room for God as He looks on every moment you spend with Him as precious.