How a book originally published in 1895 spoke to me this week

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This week I read the following quote and it has stuck with me:

"Take time to meditate and to worship, until the light that comes from the throne of God has shone into you, and you have seen your union to Christ as the work of His almighty Father.  Take time, day after day, in your whole Christian walk, with all its claims, duties, needs, and desires, and let God be everything." (Andrew Murray, Abiding in Christ, page 44)

Our lives are busy. That is pretty standard in our culture.  As Christians, we may find that there is never enough time to do everything we would like to do as so many needs surround us.  That's why this quote stood out to me.  Because it acknowledges the many "claims, duties, needs, and desires" we have and yet calls us to the quiet, to time with God everyday.  And not just time that results in checked-boxes.
Read my Bible.  Check.
Prayed for my friends. Check.
Wrote down three things I am thankful for.  Check.
All those things are very good... and I try to do them daily.... but this quote reminds us of the focus of our time: God.

"Take time to meditate and to worship"  
Take time to think about and to proclaim God's goodness and grace.  Take time to reflect on His work in the world and to give Him thanks for it.  Take time to chew on a passage of Scripture and then express adoration of God in response to it.
Taking time for mediation and worship exposes us to "the light that comes from the throne of God".  God's mercy and steadfast love radiate all the time but when we stop to lift up our heads and our hands to Him, we are able to perceive them afresh.  We become aware of who we are in Him and His work in our lives.

 "Take time, day after day..... and let God be everything."
It is easy to say that God is everything.  He is our Creator, Redeemer and Comforter.  Without Him, we wouldn't have life.  But letting God be everything is different than saying He is.  Letting God be everything seems like a personal choice we make to focus and center our lives on Him.  The way I have come to see it, letting God be everything is actually becoming aware of the reality that He is already.  We "let" God be everything by opening ourselves up to the truth of who He is through taking time to meditate and worship.

I don't know where you are at with regards to connecting with God on a daily basis.  I hope that Andrew Murray's words written so long ago are an encouragement to you as they were to me.

peace and grace,
Tracy

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