Do you ever feel like “dang. Spiritual disciplines feel hard.” Or like “gee whiz, I’m too tired to read my bible today.” Or maybe like, “dude–I don’t even understand what this is saying right now.”
Well guess what, I have felt these things before. To be honest, I feel like most times when I bring them up, people’s responses are something like “welp…get disciplined.” aka “suck it up buttercup” But then there’s no guidance. I don’t know where to turn after that. So then I recognize it–and just sit there like “okayyyy???what now? thanks?”
And I tell myself the same thing: “Just suck it up and read your bible. It’s not that hard”
Well, here’s the problem with that; chances are, there’s a deeper issue than just the sheer fact that you don’t want to read it.
DUN DUN DUNNNNN!!!! NOT the classicccc deeper issue! *ominous music*
It’s okay, just bear with me.
There’s almost always another layer. Do you ever stop and ask yourself “why?” and be patient with yourself as you figure out the “why.”
“What’s the point of this, Julia? And why do you keep putting everything in quotation marks?”
I’ll tell you why. Because, lately, I have found myself filling up my time. Just filling, filling, filling. If I don’t have something to do then I quickly turn to my phone, or decide to clean something. (those are my coping strategies) I find something to fill my time so that I have something to point at when I hear The Holy Spirit ask “soooo…whats up?” ugh. What a human response, to point the finger. We are always finding a reason to point the finger, since the beginning of time.
In today’s culture and in most environments (even churches) this is the culture. Go, go, go! Busy, busy, busy. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing as long as you’re moving quickly! Chop, chop!
I really feel with my whole heart, that we will continue to miss out on The entire heart of God if we keep this up.
What about Jesus was fast paced and rushed? He was intentional and moved with purpose.
Don’t hear me say: let’s all lose motivation and float around aimlessly like a bunch of blobs.
No.
I hope you hear: quiet down. And listen. Let The Lord love you, and ask Him how you can love Him deeper. AND then be patient and wait to hear what He says. Stop rushing around.
In the same, breath- what if the reason is really just because you lack discipline? okay, well maybe that is the problem. But then I’m saying, settle down and ask Him why you are lacking discipline. Let’s stop pretending we are trusting Him for everything when really we are trusting Him when it feels convenient to us. Lean in, ask Him, and listen to Him.
This is what has been challenging me. Thanks for reading.
