Heading to church this morning, I was thinking back on the week I had. It was a week where I was not very faithful in spending time with the Lord, either in prayer or in His word, so I was contemplating why this was. I had allowed busyness and other distractions to get in the way. I asked myself this question: "Why am I not motivated to spend time with the Lord?"
Then I felt the Lord ask me a different question: "Why are you waiting for motivation?" It hit me like a ton of bricks!
I am a weight watcher, still fighting to win that battle even after having "arrived" at my weight loss goal years ago, a place I unfortunately only visited for a while. Anyway, not to digress, many people over the years have asked me, "How do you get motivated to lose weight?" With all the health, family, fitness and other reasons to lose weight, I have always maintained a similar answer to that question. I am most motivated when I make a decision to follow the program completely and then step on the scale a week later to see the results. Doing it is really the best motivation.
Taking that thought process to this morning, I felt the Lord, through that question, reminding me that I should not be waiting for motivation to spend time with Him. I should not be expecting some miraculous impartation of desire. Rather, I should be doing what a Christian should be doing on a daily basis. I should be spending time with my Lord and Savior.
The word "disciple" comes from the same word as "discipline." I need to make a decision to do what is right and stick to it, rather than allowing the ebbs and flows of emotion and energy to dictate my actions.
And so I am thus challenged this week to carve out time for the Lord and not let anything stand in my way. Challenged to spend time in His word. Challenged to spend time in prayer with Him.
I have decided. Now my actions will get me motivated.
