I really don’t like meetings! Just ask my previous boss at Wyandot. I avoided them and am guilty at working harder to avoid them than actually going to them. Why? I’m glad you asked! Because they take me away from my task list – you know, the list of things I want to get done today. If you are a task oriented person, then you’ll understand exactly what I’m talking about!
But even as much as I despise them, one meeting I can’t afford to skip is the one I need with Jesus each day. We have to, on purpose, carve out a time during our day to spend with Him. Not because He needs it, but because we desperately need it. Skipping these “meetings” is unhealthy. Many things, including feeling guilty for spending time with Him instead of working on something, can get in the way if we let them. We can become mechanical in our meetings with Him. How many of you can admit to opening your e-mail, reading a devotion such as this one, and thirty minutes later can’t remember what the devotion was about? I’m so guilty of that one!
This week we will look at three detriments to skipping our time spent with Jesus. Making a play on words with Pastor’s sermon series and my work experience in the corporate world, I’m calling this series of devotions Skipping Meetings.
Skipping Meetings – Not Healthy for Me
It’s been many years ago, but Nicky and I had taken Jalynn and Madylynn to O’Charlies to get some dinner with my grandmother. We love O’Charlies! They have the best rolls! And with the rolls they bring out a few cups of butter spread. I like butter, but evidently Madylynn likes butter more than I do. As we are sitting there munching on rolls, I reached for the butter with my knife to butter my roll – but there was no butter cup there. Madylynn had taken both cups and finished the first one and was slurping down the second one!
“Whoa there!” I said! “You can’t eat butter like that sweetheart!”
Madylynn replied, “But why daddad?” and batted her sweet little hazel eyes!
“Because it’s not good for you sweetheart!”
“But why daddad?”
But why was Madylynn’s favorite question – and still is.
Madylynn didn’t understand that eating butter like that isn’t healthy for her. It’s not good for her now and it won’t be as she gets older. Skipping meetings with Jesus isn’t healthy for me. God knows this and He sees me running around like Martha, worried about all that I need to get done.
Luke 10:41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;
Luke 10:42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
One confusing note about this passage. It can be easily misinterpreted and read that worship is more important than service. The passage can better be interpreted as putting emphasis on seeking the kingdom first, seeking Him first above everything else – including a task list.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you
Putting God first, puts everything else in its proper order, including my list of things I want to get done. When I was working at Wyandot, I had to wear shirts that were more business like – so I had several button up shirts. And one thing I noticed very quickly was getting the first button right. When I buttoned up my shirt, and the first button ended up in the wrong slot, chances were good that the rest of my buttons would be wrong as well. They would be out-of-order. But, when the first button ended up in the right slot, all the rest of my buttons ended up in their right slots too.
Sometimes, I skip my meetings with Jesus because I feel guilty for spending that time with Him when I think I should be doing something more productive, when in fact it is that very time spent with Him that makes me more productive and puts things in their proper order. Think about it for a moment. He controls time. He controls how my mind works. Doesn’t it make sense to think that, after I’ve spent time with Him and put Him first, that He can make me more productive, show me better ways to accomplish the tasks I want to get done? Doesn’t it make sense to say that He can cause me to complete far more when I plug myself into Him versus running on my own energy?
It absolutely does.
Today as you begin your day, ask Jesus into your day. Spend some time with Him and let Him direct you and put things in their proper order. When we seek Him first, we are trusting that whatever happens that day, we know (because we didn’t skip the meeting) He can cause us to accomplish what He needs us to do. So many times I’ve discovered myself that on days that I skip that meeting, I work harder and accomplish less. But on days that I don’t skip that meeting with Him, I accomplish more without working as hard.
Don’t skip the meeting – It’s not healthy for you.
