KEEP YOUR APPOINTMENTS
Updated: Mar 28, 2019
After attending a Christian Conference in early January, one of the speakers said something that really hit me hard because I am so GUILTY!
When you make a doctor’s appointment, do you get busy and just not show up? What about a lunch date with friends; do you stand them up? A meeting with a potential business partner, do you skip out on that? Or what about a job interview, do you blow that off as well?
No?
Why is that?
Well, first off it is generally considered rude or unprofessional to just miss appointments without any notice or legitimate reason. So why do so many of us do this to God almost everyday?
We always start with the best intentions:
I am going to wake up early to have my quiet time with God.
I am going to read my Bible when I get home.
After dinner I will do my devotional.
I will pray before I go to bed.
And then what happens? The alarm clock goes off and it is so easy to hit snooze until you no longer have time to have quiet time before you need to start your day. But you have become so great at rationalizing that you have the rest of the day, so why do you need to wake up a little earlier to spend time with the Lord, you will definitely make time later.
What about your plans to read your Bible when you get home that afternoon? Something comes up and you have a couple of errands to run? Well, it’s okay. You will just go ahead and do them because you still have that evening to get into the Word and spend time with God. A friend wants to go shopping? Of course you have time, it’s not like you had real plans anyway, right? Reading the Bible can always wait until a little later.
Now dinner rolls around and you have missed your quiet time and reading your Bible and you still have to do your devotion too? That seems a little overwhelming. You just need to relax for a little while first and watch some Netflix, then you will get to it before bed. Two hours later, you realize you’ve got to get some sleep or you’ll be exhausted the next day, plus you have some homework to get done before tomorrow too. So, you get ready for bed and without realizing it you’re already asleep about to repeat the very same day all over again tomorrow.
Why do we do this?
Why do we plan to spend time with God, our King and Savior, the only thing that matters in our life and miss our appointment?
Are we that careless?
Doctors, friends, bosses, etc. all get the basic respect of showing up when we plan to meet with them so why do we bail on God?
Well I have a theory.
It’s how we view our relationship with God. So often we view this amazing connection with him as an impersonal one. When we do this we don’t truly KNOW The Lord, because to know him is to crave spending time with him getting into his word, praying to him about all of our life’s trails and triumphs, and constantly asking ourselves what we can do to glorify him.
Are you feeling guilty yet? Or ashamed that everything I’ve talked about applies to you? Well I know I sure as heck do! And that’s not okay! We are completely redeemed and forgiven of our sin and God keeps no record of our wrongs. So if you forgot to spend time with God yesterday, if you skipped your appointment, if you are not looking at your relationship with God as a personal one; do not get discouraged. Rejoice, because there is always tomorrow.
Seek a personal relationship with the Lord today, tomorrow, and everyday. Pray and talk to him like a friend, because only he can see into the depths of our heart in a way that can heal and bring understanding. He created you and me from nothing, and we will never be able to understand his magnificence but what we can do is make an appointment and keep it. Such a seemingly simple task that becomes more difficult each day.
I challenge you, and myself to constantly remember all he has done for us and his great love. When we make appointments with people we respect them enough to show up, so show up to your appointments with the one who deserves not only our respect but everything we have.