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When I was in college, there was a central location on campus called the Memorial Union, where students and visitors could find some fast food, some official school apparel and the bookstore. There was a lot going on, but that was kind of the central hub that anyone and everyone would know about no matter how familiar with any other building on campus they were.
At five o’clock every day there would be a song that was played that I could hear from my dorm room and it would remind me that I better get dinner before everything closed up for the night, which was an hour or two later.
The great thing about it, though, is that I didn’t have to sit outside and stare at a big clock, waiting for it to hit five o’clock so that I could run and instantly go get dinner. There was just a song that reminded me that I should go get food soon.
When it comes to spending time with God in prayer or reading my Bible, it is way too easy to sit and stare at the clock, waiting for that moment where I can say that I’m done and I can run and go get food. When I’m doing something unimportant, it seems like it is really easy to just let the time slide by, but when it comes to my relationship with Jesus Christ I tend to run right on schedule.
This needs to change.
I need to return to that time in my life when I kept a sense of time, but wasn’t so worried about it when I didn’t need to. Of course there are times when you have to be at certain places at certain times, but if you’re just staring at the clock hoping to be done with your “work” of spending time with Christ, then like me you’re missing the point and you’re stuck in a legalistic relationship with God.
There’s a better way.
The grace of God in our lives means that we are free from these regulations. We are free from the thinking that we have to spend a certain amount of time with Christ. Instead, we get to spend time with Him, the maker of the worlds. Take advantage of your time, rather than being restricted by it.
