Yesterday morning, the pastors of the Anthracite District met for our monthly meeting and we are currently working through a discussion of the book “A Dangerous Calling” by David Tripp. We discussed the portion of his book where he talks about the condition of the heart of pastors and how often times what is lacking is a strong devotional life as well as a lack of personalizing the Scriptures. I brought up how many times in my life the only time I open the Bible in a week is to prepare for a message or a Bible Study. We quickly recognized that this is not just a pastors problem but a Christian problem.
Many of us are engaged in the process of running the rat race that is life. We have demands to meet, schedules to keep, and the next event to get to or to plan. In such a fast paced existence it is becoming increasingly more difficult to spend time in isolation with just a Bible, a cup of coffee, a notepad, and a pen, listening and journaling what the Lord might be saying to us. It is increasingly more difficult to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen. Yet, this is necessary if we want to live the kind of life that God is calling us to live and if we want to hear God’s direction for our lives. We see this practiced in the life of Jesus as He would often withdraw from the crowds to spend time with His Father. We also see it in the life of Mary as she sat at the feet of Jesus while Martha was busy preparing. As Martha asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her, Jesus responds with challenging Martha on what she is so worried about and that Mary has chosen the better part which would not be taken away from her.
Let us all hurry up and wait, let us silence ourselves long enough to sit at the feet of Jesus, and may we hear His voice and be challenged and inspired by what it is He says to us. May we spend time in isolation with His word and personalize His word so that we might continue to grow into the likeness of Jesus.