Haste Destroys Relationships
A single woman in her mid-twenties flipped through the contacts on her phone trying to find someone she could spend time with Friday night. Everyone she knew had a commitment. She didn’t want to spend the evening home alone again eating a box of chocolates she bought for herself while watching the latest chick-flick. Rather than changing into her pajamas and popping popcorn, she decided to go downtown to try Speed Dating. At least she wouldn’t be alone (she thought to herself) and she might meet someone.
Limiting Relationship
Many people approach their relationship with God the same way. They look for distractions that keep them busy, preventing them from spending ample time with Him. They fear being alone because loneliness might become overwhelming. When they do spend time with God, it’s a five-minute Bible reading or prayer time that they rush through between their daily activities. This type of relationship with God never allows for any depth or significance. Similar to Speed Dating, if you limit yourself to a few minutes with God, you won’t fully engage in a meaningful relationship.
Growing in Faith and In Love
Imagine if every single relationship was built on short, sporadic five-minute interactions that were convenient for you. Your relationships would be weak and inconsequential. Building a strong foundation that will last takes time, patience and commitment. Love doesn’t happen overnight. To truly love someone, you must get to know that person deeply. You must accept and cherish that person. Spend time with her and discover her true identity. Over time that person’s likes, dislikes, uniqueness, ideologies and flaws become genuinely beautiful. She becomes intriguing and captivating. There is little allure from knowing someone on the surface.
Our relationship with the Lord should be the same. We should be devoted to Him and devote ourselves to growing closer to Him. This can’t be done in haste. Haste is the enemy of both love and devotion. We cannot engage in a deep, intimate relationship in haste. We can’t know everything about God without interacting with Him, reading His Word or spending adequate time talking to Him in prayer. We can’t place someone we hardly know in high regard. We must engage with God daily through prayers, bible study, scripture reading, worship, service, etc. in order to build a relationship with Him.
God already loves you and has spent all of time doing so. He doesn’t need to sit down over coffee to get to know you. He created you and knows your heart better than you know yourself. In order to have a deep relationship with the Lord, you must put forth the effort. He’s done His part and He’s waiting for you to join Him. He has so much He wants to share with you and He can’t wait until you truly hear it, with an open and loving heart. It’s time to make the effort to learn more about Him so you can love Him more. If you’re alone on a Friday night, or any night, consider committing that time to the Lord and use it to grow deeper in faith and in love.
