When it comes to God’s goodness, love, and power, why do we forget them so easily?
I’ve published a book on love and fear. About God’s incredible love that is unchanging and unconditional. Yet somehow I often forget that He loves me. Or at least I forget how absolutely incredible His love for me is.
Have you been a believer in Jesus for a long time and feel the same way? Perhaps I’m not the only one who feels like this.
I was reading my Bible this week and I came across a verse that outlines this idea and it has really got me thinking.
“However, it is possible to open your eyes and take in the beautiful, perfect truth found in God’s law of liberty and live by it. If you pursue that path and actually do what God has commanded, then you will avoid the many distractions that lead to an amnesia of all true things and you will be blessed.” (James 1:25 The Voice)
I love the first sentence of this verse because it offers hope to the reader. ‘It is possible’ to remember and live a life walking alongside God and remembering who lives inside us, changing everything around us.
Here’s the kicker. Is it easy? Do we climb the mountain of faith one time and are set for life? In my experience, no. It is a daily remembering and reminding.
Devotions
What is the point of daily devotions? Is it simply the church’s way of controlling people?
“You must do your daily devotions, church, if you want to rise within these walls.”
Okay, I’ve never heard anyone say that. So is it God’s way of telling us what to do? Do you remember doing devotions before you were 20 years old? Perhaps some of you do.
Regardless, what if, instead of something we have to do, one other thing to check off on our daily ‘to-do’ list, it’s an invitation.
The truth is, we do forget. In fact, we forget quite easily the greatness of our God who created the universe.
“If you pursue the path and actually do what God has commanded…” When we take time each day to focus on Him, pray and read His word, we are reminded. Not only of who He is but of who He says that we are.
“Consider the kind of extravagant love the Father has lavished on us—He calls us children of God! It’s true; we are His beloved children.” (1 John 3:1)
Of course, there is a lot more that we learn and grow in when we read the Bible. But what I am eluding to is that time spent, whether it’s 5 minutes or 2 hours each day, with God will change us. It will bring us back to our authentic selves and fill our cups to overflowing.
Then we can go out into the world ‘armed with vulnerability’ and have God’s goodness overflow into the environments we walk into.
Casting off Distractions
We live in a time when it has never been easier to be distracted. From the moment we wake up until we lay our heads upon the pillow, we are bombarded with videos, posts, likes, and entertainment.
Technology can be a blessing. In many ways, it’s streamlined our lives and taken away unnecessary extra work. But it also keeps our attention on anything and everything, which doesn’t allow our brains one moment to ponder or reflect.
When God says ‘meditate on my word’ (Joshua 1:8), He doesn’t mean clear your head of everything and float around in ‘nothing thought.’ He’s inviting us to think upon and ponder His words.
Verse memorization helps with this. What is so incredible is that when we meditate on a passage we read that morning during devotions and continue to let it roll around in our minds, God can show us the meaning behind the words. He can show us angles of His words that we never would have considered.
But for this to happen, we need to mute the distractions and take the time. That is a hard thing for us, in the world of iPhones and technology, to do, isn’t it? I’ll be the first to admit it.
“… then you will avoid the many distractions that lead to an amnesia of all true things…”
The distractions are many. They also cause us to forget.
God is inviting us, His beloved children, into the quiet spaces with Him. Each day is a blank slate and we can sit before the throne and ask God to give us insight and His agenda for the day. We can hear from heaven what He has to say, the goodness and blessing He wants to impart to us.
If you’ve never done devotions before, start small. Take 5 minutes in your day, whenever it works for you. It doesn’t have to be the morning. It could be your lunch break, right when you get home from work, when the kids are napping, or right before bed.
As you make time for the Creator you will see a difference. Not as something you have to do but as something you get to do. You’ll notice most of all your own perspective changes.
God wants to meet with me and you. The same God that created you, knows you inside and out and loves you with a love that heals all the broken cracks you weren’t sure could ever be filled.
As we take time to sit with our loving God each day, let us not forget.
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