Clear the Room

I’ve come across people who have asked me about getting the most out of their time with God and how to read the bible with understanding. All the time I hear people talk about their struggle to spend quiet time with God. Let me see if I can lay this out. Maybe this sounds familiar.

You sit down in a quiet room to read the bible. You don’t know where to start so maybe you just open it to the beginning. (If you do it this way, chances are you have read the first few chapters of Genesis several times.) Either way, you pick something that is likely familiar to you and start to read. Most people will read a chapter or two, understand none of it, and then try to take some time to pray.

You might be one of those people with a list, physical or otherwise. You pray through your list and sit there. Waiting. For something. Anything. (Crickets…)

And, that’s it. You get up, and that’s that.  Maybe you will be back the next day, maybe you will be back next year to try again. You have probably tried this many times with little to no significant change in your life. Then, you read something in the bible like this, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Pray continually? How is that even possible? I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a pretty hefty request.

On a regular basis, we have so many other things that demand our attention. And usually, those things are much easier to think about because they are closer to entertainment then learning and meditating.

We have the internet. We have social media in various forms. We have work. We have family. We have entertainment. We have all kinds of things that constantly demand our attention.

But, let’s consider this. What we watch, what we read, what we let into our minds, through our ears and eyes, leaves a lasting impression. How often have you been going through your day and, suddenly, you recall a movie line or something in a story you read? How often do you find yourself thinking about what you read in the news? How often do you think about a conversation you had with someone else via internet?

God is knocking on the door of your heart. You open the door, and he looks in to see that there is already so many other people in there that we are violating fire code. He wants to come in, and you say, “Sure, find space.”

Then you wonder why He isn’t making changes in your life. Well, the truth is, you are choosing to let everything but Him make real change. He is not going to fight you on this. If that is what you want, that is what you will get.

So here is what I suggest. If you want the most out of your time with God, and you want lasting change in your life, get rid of everything else. Clear the room. Prepare the way for Him to be the king of your heart. You are the temple, and you have not made way for Him.

I have heard people say, “Don’t get tattoos because your body is the temple.”

I suppose, but our bodies will die, and we will receive a new body. But, does the inside of your heart look like a temple, prepared for Him to be the high priest, or does it look more like the temple when Jesus entered and chased out those doing business in His Father’s house?  (Matthew21:12).