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Make Time To Be Holy
I love the fall. It is my favorite time of year. Fall is a time for new beginnings. A new season blows in. The air becomes more crisp, leaves change colors on trees, and temperatures drop (depending on where you live). A new school year begins, where everyone starts off with a clean slate. A new football season kicks off with every team having the same record, full of hopes and goals.
With new activities come new schedules. Calendars seem to fill up quickly in the fall. We make time for the ball games, practices, parties, holidays, doctor appointments, homework, and our favorite shows. Then of course something comes up at the last minute or an important appointment we forgot when planning the week and everything is shifted around to accommodate. Sound familiar? We are so entrenched in our "busy-ness" and the activities we want to do that we sometimes leave off the most important things off our schedules. We need to make time to be holy.
We need to make time to study God’s word. It’s easy to relate to Martha. She welcomed Jesus into her home and was busy making sure everything was just right and that He was comfortable. In getting the meal ready she became annoyed that her sister was not helping in the preparations. However, Jesus answers Martha, "You are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41, 42). Mary was listening to Jesus talk about the word. It is important to note that the activities that Martha was engaged in were not wrong. However, she needed to make time for the "good part" as Mary did.
Reading the word of God is our spiritual sustenance. Just as we need our daily bread and become hungry again only a few hours after breakfast, the same should be true of our hungering and thirsting after righteousness (Matthew 5:6). We all have those times when we are "forced" due to time constraints to go through the drive-through or eat a meal bar (that keeps us alive but does not satisfy). If that were our habit on a daily basis, we would physically and mentally suffer for the lack of balanced nutrition. Our stomachs might also become upset and join in the rebellion for us eating too fast. We need a balanced diet and time to digest. Spiritually we need the same. Not just read a quick verse before we go to bed to check that off the list, but time to read and meditate. "Blessed is the man...whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:1, 2). Make time for a sit down meal!
We need to make time to pray. Communication has exploded in the last couple of decades. We can text message, tweet, email, blog, post, or if we have plenty of time, phone. Not only have our conversations become truncated, but how we converse has become little more than symbols, fyi. Before you lol or speed through the rest of this article asap, please consider that this has impacted some of our prayer lives as well. Our prayers have become little more than short texts to our Father in Heaven. God is not looking for updates. He wants more than a shallow relationship. Consider the various forms of conversation Paul exhorts Timothy to employ. "Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men" (1 Timothy 2:1). How long has it been since you have really talked to God? We need that experience on a regular basis. We need to pray without ceasing. That takes time.
We need to make time for our family. Family may be to the motive for all the extra activities we immerse ourselves with, but isn’t it ironic that we see less of them because of it? Minivans become taxis that take little passengers from one practice to another. Husbands and wives often have little time (or energy) left for each other at the end of the day. What we do in the name of family can contribute to the demise of our families if we are not careful! We fathers need to step up as the head of our households and be the leaders God intended for us to be. We have the grand privilege and responsibility to bring up our children in the training and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), while not forsaking the woman we chose and promised to nourish and cherish and love her as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25, 29). In addition to our physical family, we need to make time for our spiritual family. They need our consideration as well (Hebrews 10:24, 25).
Enjoy the fall. It is a wonderful time of year filled many new opportunities. Just remember to make time to be holy, it’s the good part!
