The Most Important 30 Minutes of My Day

I’m stretching myself this fall with a theology course called Perspectives on the World-Wide Christian Movement and I am enjoying it immensely. The first five weeks had me tracking God’s missionary movement from Genesis through Revelation connecting these 66 books in a way I never saw before and making the study of the Bible a new kind of adventure for me. This last week, we begin looking at the history of mission after the writings of the New Testament through the present day. I’m beginning to have new eyes for the Church during what is too often this forgotten time and how God has moved throughout the world. But I also learned something much more important and immediate or should I say “relearned.”

In those first five lessons, I was reading the bible a lot—looking at, easily, 40-50 verse references per lesson mulling them over and understanding them in a new light. I was back in my bible again and thriving on the wonderful new connections I was making with God’s word. I’ve already admitted some time ago (more than once) that I haven’t been reading the bible and praying like I know I should be. It was beginning to feel empty and flat so my personal quiet time with the Lord waned a bit. I increasingly became distracted by life—I always seemed to be rushing somewhere or needing to do something and couldn’t get it off my mind until it was done. Before I knew it, my personal, intimate time with God in his word and in prayer fell to the bottom of my priority list.

I’m not talking about the weekly worship, Sunday school class, or bible study you attend or the prayer or praise time you have while you driving to your next destination or waiting in line at the grocery store. I’m talking about the time you take out of your day to read God’s word asking him to speak his will to you or using his word to praise and worship him, or in repentance seeking his grace and assurance. And when you shut out everyone and everything else to listen for his voice, to intercede for those he has put on your heart, and rest in his presence. This is what has been missing from my daily routine for way too long.

Oh, I’ve tried in the past several times to get it back in the routine, but it never really got traction. But somehow, after digging deep into the bible for the first five weeks of the course, this last week seemed so empty again when I left the bible behind to track the history of the church instead. This morning I woke up feeling like something was missing and I wanted it back. I wanted to be in God’s word again and to put everything aside to totally be in his presence, so I opened my bible and read and took time to really communicate with God before my feet hit the floor and God’s peace is still filling my heart as I share this with you.

What did God teach me last week? God taught me that breakfast isn’t the most important meal of the day—feasting on his word is. And that 30 minutes of exercise I’m supposed to get three times a week—it will never compare to the 30 minutes I spend in the morning in the word and in prayer being strengthen and molded by my God.