Where have you encountered God this week? Let us know in the comments! Here's Jonathan, our Youth Minister, with our latest blog post...
Have you ever wondered how much time of our entire life we spend crying? It’s roughly 7 months.
In our lifetime we also spend 14 years at our workplace, 25 years asleep, 9 years watching TV, 8 months queuing (probably more for English people…) and 4 months on the toilet. There has also been a study that suggests women prepare their hair for 1 year of their lives while men spend 1.5 years in the pub…
How much of our lifetime do we spend with God?
If we look at an average life expectancy of 80 years and spend 20 minutes every day reading our Bible or praying, it would be around 9 months – which doesn’t seem that much, yet it’s a real challenge for me to be consistent in my daily quiet time with God.
A few years ago I was challenged by an American pastor who asked his congregation to invest in a chair and place it in their favourite place in their home with the idea that you would want to sit down several times a day to spend more time with God.
I’ve now got a chair in my living room and I try to sit down regularly to read, reflect, listen and worship, using my Bible, music, Lectio365, devotions and prayer lists. I continually want to invest in my relationship with God through quality time so that I can rejoice with David in 1 Chronicles 16: 'Glory to His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD daily, rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered. […] He is the LORD.'
How much time will you have spent with God at the end of your lifetime? Where is your chair?
Maybe it’s not a physical chair, but a location (in the kitchen, on the loo), an activity (running, driving, networking, stargazing) or simply a time in the day (before sunset, during the lunch break) where you are able to spend time with God uninterrupted: Why not challenge yourself to spend 20 minutes a day in that place this week and see where God takes you from there – we are looking forward to hearing your stories about how you have encountered Him this week.
Blessings
Jonathan
(Youth & Children's Minister)