Faithful versus Faithless: How Sin Enters a Christian’s Life
I have developed some bad habits during the quarantine of 2020. At the beginning of this long siege of isolation, I realized that my old patterns and lifestyle had to go out the window and that I had to be more flexible, but I have taken it too far. I started quarantining in early March at the request of my son, who took off from work to have a very missional talk with me about my vulnerability to this virus due to my suppressed immune system. I committed to him that day to maintain the quarantine to the best of my ability. He was far more informed than I was and knew even then that this might be a year-long commitment; he did not sugarcoat that fact. At that point, I knew that to keep the quarantine scrupulously, I would have to be kinder to myself and allow some departures from my schedule that I was far too devoted to.
One of the first departures was to allow myself to watch a liberal media news and talk show in the morning, the Today show. You and I may disagree on this, but I have found it useful in my life to watch one mainstream news program weekly to see what most of the world is thinking and what they have been taught. I found this helpful in conversations with my students when I was teaching in the Business School at Georgia State, and I have found it useful when talking to clients of various religions and political persuasions. Although I gather most of my news from Christian publications, I have always watched at least an hour weekly on NBC, CNN, or MSNBC to see the other information that people believe as complete truth, especially during election seasons or hearings related to the Supreme Court.
In the past, I would just keep the Today show on in the background as I took my bath in the morning, dressed, and had my breakfast; but now, I gave myself permission to watch at least a full hour in the mornings, a tiny luxury it seemed. The best hour for news starts at 7:00AM, so I decided to delay my quiet time until later in the morning. My quiet time often runs over into my writing time, and since both keep me in the Word, this can go on for most of the day. I reasoned that I did not want to break my full attention to the Word to watch the Today show, so I would just start quiet time AFTER this morning luxury, a minor delay. I still dropped to my knees and prayed upon rising, but I did not get into morning Bible study until after I treated myself to the morning news. It felt good. I felt I was easing into the morning in such a relaxed way. I had a little catch in my spirit, but reasoned it away. After all, I had all day to read my Bible. Why do that first?
I had lots of good reasons for starting my day this way. The Lord had already told me in 2019 that the blog would not be weekly in 2020 nor would there be any big project, so I had no deadline pressure or goal for my Bible study. Also, I was pretty run down at the beginning of all this, and I reasoned that staying in bed and not using my mind at all for that extra hour in the morning was a good way to rest. And our enemy saw me sick, tired, in frustrating circumstances, and He came to me with one of those Eve-like conversations that began, “Did the Lord really tell you to meet with Him in the mornings?”
Now let me state here that I know there are people who do their quiet times at different times of the day. I can only tell you that a long time ago, the Lord asked me to meet Him in the mornings. He wanted me to come before my idol of a schedule took over my thoughts and while I was more of a blank slate so He could write on my heart. My sin here is that I minimized something that He had shown me was vital for me, something I needed to face the day equipped to deal with whatever crossed my path. He had shown me long ago that if I did not spend time with Him before going out into the world, that my fickle and forgetful heart might not respond to discouraging or annoying people in a Christlike manner. He had also taught me to pray before I ever took a step out my door that He would show me anyone who needed Jesus. He had made me aware, to my sorrow, that I could be completely oblivious to an unsaved person He had put in my path if I had not spent time with Him first thing and gotten into a mindset that was more like Christ’s and less like mine.
Most important of all, the early morning hours had been our time together, God’s and mine. It was sweet and holy and quiet like no other part of the day. It was His plan for me and it was perfect. But I stopped showing up. After my morning prayers, I previously could hardly wait to rush into our morning study of His Word together. I was eager and my heart was saying, “Teach me! Teach me!” I still did my Bible study, but there was something less reverent about it. And a couple of times, between repairmen coming and friends calling with prayer emergencies, I would look around and see I had not had that long, leisurely time with Him during the day, where He did the guiding instead of a book or a plan. Soaking in His presence at night with a mind crowded with thoughts of the events of the day was just not the same.
As I began to realize that my time with Him was not as rich and fervent and anointed as it had been, I began to think that maybe it was because I was not giving Him the first fruits of my day. If I wanted to give Him my best, I needed to meet Him at the time He had appointed for me. He also reminded me of the time when I had been a newly committed Christian. Back then, He had met me at night, and He Himself would teach me from the Bible with no guides or materials, just His heart pouring into mine. But as He brought me teachers and mentors, He also taught me the value of a quiet time to start the day. He showed me that all throughout the Bible, some of the most effective prayers had come from those who had risen early in the morning to meet with Him:
Elkanah and Hannah prayed for an end to her barrenness and the Lord gave them Samuel.
1 Samuel 1:19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.
Hezekiah prayed that he could restore the house of the Lord to its former glory, and God answered that prayer abundantly.
2 Chronicles 29:20-21, 35-36 Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the LORD. And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the LORD……35 Besides the great number of burnt offerings, there was the fat of the peace offerings, and there were the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored. 36 And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for the people, for the thing came about suddenly.
We get valuable insight into the habits of Jesus in Mark 1. He is in the early season of His ministry and busy healing many, casting out demons, and teaching the disciples how to minister to a worldwide church. In His busiest season with so much to do, we read what Jesus did at the start of a very long day:
Mark 1:35-36 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him
Certainly, these people prayed at other times, but there is an intentionality they had about seeking the Lord early in the morning, especially when praying big prayers. The Bible is economical; this word “early” would have been left out if not important.
We are not under the law nor is there any Biblical requirement to meet the Lord early in the morning; however, there is value is observing the habits of the saints whose lives demonstrate the power of God in a mighty way. I was encouraged when I heard Anne Graham Lotz say recently that she departed from her habit of an early morning quiet time at one point, and that it took “months or even years” to get back that habit that blessed her so much. She called it “blanket victory.”
At some point in my early walk with the Lord, I had to concede that those who had the prayer life I wanted were meeting God in the mornings. I was not a morning person, famously not. No one ever embarked on a morning prayer time with more resistance than I did. But the intimacy with the Lord I experienced after this change was remarkable. It was most precious to me when I was a busy single mom. I would rise before my child in the mornings and before work began in order to savor His presence and His Word; it sustained and blessed me.
When memories of my previous quiet times came rushing back to me this weekend, I longed to return to my regular meetings with Him and run into His arms. I could not wait to rush into His presence and greet Him and tell Him how happy it is to meet Him first before meeting anyone. I am so happy to be back.
If you have never tried a morning quiet time. I encourage you to try it. God may be calling you to something different, but for most people, time with the Lord before the clutter and the temptations of the day hit you is a treasure no one can describe adequately.
I am beginning a series today on being faithful. Deferring time with the Lord was a way I was not being faithful. Has the recent quarantine chipped away at your faithfulness in some small way? Worship? Prayer? Service to others? Any small or large thing?
Remember what the Lord said to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Paul showed he knew so well the expansive mercy and love of the Lord when we are faithless in our habits or actions, when he wrote:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 KJV.
Talk to the Lord today about an area where you want to be more faithful. I asked Him to put into my heart a desire to meet with Him again in the morning and He did. I asked Him to change my listlessness and the creeping lack of motivation to get out of bed early, and He did. In whatever area you desire to be more faithful, He will do the same for you.