I love the motto “semper fi.” You may know that it is short for semper fidelis and means “always faithful.” Long before the Marines embraced this motto, it was found on coats of arms of medieval families in various nations.
But I think this motto has application well beyond the military. What a great motto for followers of Jesus Christ! I want to be always faithful as a husband, a father, a friend, and, certainly, as a pastor. However, above all else, I want to be faithful when it comes to my relationship with God. It was this very faithfulness that was exhibited by Mary in Mark 10:38-42, in spite of her sister Martha’s statement to the contrary.
If you were in attendance at Renton Bible for this sermon on October 21st, you may have noticed that I cut my concluding challenge short. However, at the heart of this concluding challenge was how we can be faithful when it comes to prioritizing time with God. How can we follow Mary’s model which was affirmed by our Lord? I offer, again, four practical applications:
1) Make a Daily Appointment
There is something about starting out each day with time devoted to God. As pastor and martyr for the faith Dietrich Bonhoeffer says:
Since meditation on the Scriptures, prayer, and intercession are a service we owe and because the grace of God is found in this service, we should train ourselves to set apart a regular hour for it, as we do for every other service we perform. This is not “legalism”; it is orderliness and fidelity. For most people the early morning will prove to be the best time. We have a right to this time, even prior to the claims of other people, and we must insist upon having it as a completely undisturbed quiet time despite all external difficulties. (Life Together, P. 87)
As I have mentioned, I am not naturally a morning person. But I can also say that as I am disciplined to get to bed earlier and to get up earlier to have that time with God, it makes a significant difference in my day. (See the excerpt from Gary Thomas’ book Thirsting for God, available in the foyer.)
But most important is that you make and keep a daily appointment. Don’t just hope somehow you will get to time with God—make an appointment, set aside specific time to be with Him. And in that time, I encourage you to…
2) Begin with the Bible
Someone has recommended, and I agree wholeheartedly, the value of preceding our daily set apart time of prayer with time in God’s Word. What does this time in the Bible look like? It could be doing Bible study, working on memory verses, reading through a book of the Bible (a passage at a time) or even reading from a Christian book that is devotional in nature and meditating on Scriptural passages contained within. I prefer to do a variety of these options throughout the week. But however you do it, it is good to begin quiet time with the Bible.
3) Record a Verse in your Journal
After my time in God’s Word, there is often a verse that really sticks out to me. So, I make a dated journal entry in which I write out a verse or two, word for word. It is a good habit to write out Scripture. But it also helps give a Biblical focus to your prayer time. Which brings us to the last point…
4) Talk to God (Aloud / Written)
Now, I put here aloud or written because I believe there is value, when you are able, to express your prayers in an external way. Do you ever start praying, silently, and find yourself planning dinner or what you are doing tomorrow? Then, you realize you are drifting and start praying again, but before you know it you are thinking about a recent conversation or what you will wear today. Two ways for us to avoid this tendency to get distracted is to write out our prayers, just like we were writing a letter, or say our prayers aloud, just like any other conversation. Expressing prayers in these ways helps us remember that we are talking to a real person.
What should you talk about? Many people are aware of ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. As well, the themes of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) provide a great model. But more than anything, prayer is about spending time at the feet of Jesus. It is about, as one author put it, Wasting Time with God. No agenda. No distractions. Just unhurried, daily time alone with our Lord.
Honestly, this is easier said than done. It is too easy, like Martha, to get caught up in the busyness of daily life. But Mary sets an example for us of fidelity to God, prioritizing time with Jesus over her list of things to do. It is for this reason that we call prayer a spiritual discipline. But though it isn’t always easy, there is nothing more important, as Jesus makes clear. May we, in the words of Bonhoeffer, insist on having this daily, undisturbed quiet time—that we may learn all the more to love God with all that we are.
Pastor Dan