God Has No Stopwatch

One of the things I catch myself thinking from time to time is “I think I put in enough time with God today.” What it translates to is “Did I meet my quota today?” I’m not quite sure where I developed this thinking or where it originated from, but I do know I’m probably not alone. I have to stop myself from believing God will bless me, accept me, love me, or protect me in proportion to how much time I spend in devotions. Let me be blunt and say that this is a lie straight from the pit of hell! God does not base His love on what we are doing for Him. He is love and He has no favorites. (Rom 2:11)

Looking at how warped this belief is I thought of how easily this scenario doesn’t work. If God weighed His approval on the amount of time I devote I’m already defeated. Take Johnny and Susie. Johnny is 70 years old and retired. Susie works two jobs, about 60 hours per week. Instantly Johnny has the upper hand by virtue of having more time available. Susie would be playing “catch up” so to speak. Maybe Susie is in the wrong for working so much and not having a lot of spare time for devotions. Maybe she should quit one of those jobs and just trust God. After all the bible says God will supply all our needs. But the bible also says you don’t work you don’t eat. Can you see how convoluted and out of control this can get? It’s because we’re starting out from a non biblical belief. Any way we try to make this work it still won’t work.

In contrast, let’s grasp how God wants us truly to live. Romans 8:1-2 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” God does not condemn us for how much time we spend with Him, our flesh does. God does not have a stopwatch keeping track of how long I read my bible and pray. There is no scripture that says my 5 minute devotion is less spiritual than my friend’s 2 hour one. I have read my bible while nursing my baby. I’ve read the bible sitting on the toilet (TMI). I’ve read my bible in the car when I showed up somewhere a little early. This can easily become a Dr. Suess book. Can you praise Him on a train? Can you praise Him on a plane? Can you read the word on a bus? Can you read the word with Gus? Jokingly and yet seriously, the answer to all is yes.

It’s essential that we correctly grasp the reason we do devotions, read our bible, or pray. We do those things actually for our own benefit and not God’s. God is not some being that continues to exist as long as His subjects worship Him and dies if they don’t. He doesn’t have a gas tank that gets filled by our praise so He can keep “running”. The bible does say “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Spending time in the word and prayer gives us the road map of how to live and how to please God. God is holy and asks us to be holy. The bible shows me how to do that. I also spend time in devotions becauseI have a relationship with God. A relationship is a choice. Knowing your spouse, parents, and friends only spent time with you because they were forced to, wouldn’t be a true relationship. You would question the sincerity of everything they did and said. Additionally, if I never spend time with God, He doesn’t cease to exist, but I do go through life without the benefit of knowing Him more intimately. When I open my bible with the motivation to know God versus a fear of judgement and obligation the outcome is totally different.

To summarize, the notion that God is counting the seconds and minutes I spend in devotions isn’t biblical. It is not the amount of time that makes me worthy. I personally don’t always get uninterrupted time with 2 kids under 2, but I try to find time. Some days I have an hour and some days the length of my “bathroom break”. God understands and doesn’t love me more on the days I gave Him an hour versus 2 minutes. If God is important, we can find the time, but the amount of it has no basis on His love or approval of us.