Are You Too Busy For God?

Are you too busy,
or are you just on your phone
too much? 

While at the beach, I went out to eat at a restaurant where the walls were covered with decorations, many with quirky or humorous sayings on them. While waiting for my food, I was reading the walls (I mean, there isn't anything else to do!) and one of these things caught my eye.

It said, "Jesus Is Coming. Act Busy!" 

Of course, it annoyed me that someone would put that up in their restaurant. It's obviously the wrong attitude to have. But as I thought about it more and more, I realized that often that is how we treat God in our lives.

How often have you let other things get in the way of your time with God? Do you procrastinate on your Bible reading time because you get stuck surfing social media? Do you give your full attention to church or are you thinking about how much you want to check your email when you get home? 

In other words, have you let God take second place in your life because you're "too busy"? 

The Greatest Commandment

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment in the Law was, here is how he responded:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)

That doesn't leave much room for doubt.  The most important thing in your life is loving God and those around you.

Put God First
What does it look like to put God first in your life and not let other busyness take away from that?

It looks like doing your devotions first thing.

• Read your Bible before you check email or social media or do anything else on the computer. 
• If possible, do them before you get out of bed so you aren't tempted to do other things first.
• Don't keep your phone by your bed so you aren't tempted to surf the Web "for a few minutes" first. 

It looks like putting church before other things. 

• Go to each church service your church offers every week unless you are sick or traveling. If you're traveling, find a church there or do extra Bible reading and prayer time. 
• Don't skip church for extracurricular activities. If they conflict with your service, church wins out every time. 
• Try to stay focused on the church service. Don't let your mind wander to who you need to email, what you need to do, or what's for lunch. 

It looks like thinking about God all throughout the day.

• I just read a genius idea on another blog. Every day, write your to-do list on a note-card to keep in your back pocket. Write a Bible verse you want to think about on the back. Whenever you check your list, read the Bible verse as well.
• If you don't use a to-do list, pick a verse of the day and keep it easily accessible on your phone or computer. Whenever you do something on your device, read over the verse. 

Finally, it looks like evaluating your life. If you truly feel that you are too busy to allow for half an hour of Bible reading a day, look hard at what you are doing. Is all of it necessary? What can you stop doing to gain more time for God? You may legitimately be too busy; but that means that your priorities aren't straight and you're doing too much. 

Christianity is more than just a religion. It isn't just for Sundays. Christianity is a lifestyle, every day of the week. Nothing is more important than your relationship with God. Nothing! Never let other things get in the way of your faith in your day to day life. 

Never be too busy to spend time with the Lord.

What do you think? Have you been letting other things get in the way of your time with God? How can you start putting God at the center of your life again? Share in the comments below!