Photo by Phil Kenyon
I’m sure you all have heard someone refer to an aspect of their life as being on the back-burner. In general it means the person is not primarily focusing on that aspect of their life right now. I was reflecting on my week over the past couple days and realized that I had been putting God on the back-burner. I had not been placing Him at the centre of everything I do. Let me explain some more…
I am a nursing student so most of last week consisted of long days spent in the hospital. My excuse is that I didn’t have time to focus on my relationship with God. Yet, reflecting back I did find the time to sit on my phone on my work breaks and scroll Facebook and Instagram feeds. I found time to watch the hockey game when I got home after a long day. During my week I also had to drive 20 minutes to the hospital and back every day. I did spend some time in prayer during these drives, but a lot more of my time listening to music. What was the focus of my life during the week? Yes, a lot of it was wholesome time learning the ropes of nursing, but there was also a lot of my downtime spent focused on myself. Is this what God would desire of me?
Tonight a friend and I decided to challenge each other to two weeks without social media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) on our phones. I was a bit hesitant to do so, but also saw it as an opportunity to examine how I was spending my time. I asked my friend what he was going to replace his time on social media with. In my mind I was asking myself the same question. When we remove something from our lives we need to ensure we replace that activity with God-focused ones.
Tonight a friend and I decided to challenge each other to two weeks without social media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) on our phones.
Too often lately, I think social media and ultimately my own desires have been on the front-burner of my life. All the while, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been pushed to the wayside. The scriptures continually speak of how much more God wants for us. He wants His children to embrace Him with everything we have. He is at work in our lives to show us more and more our dependency and need for Him. He also desires to give us joy and peace when we walk in His ways. I want these next two weeks to be a time where I can learn more to place God on the front-burner of my life and not the back-burner. Will you seek the same?
I find passage that is helpful for me when I am seeking God’s help to rely on Him more is Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
What does this mean for your week? Perhaps, like me it means looking less to social media and looking more to the word of God? Perhaps it means turning off the car radio more and praising God through some Christian music? Perhaps it means challenging yourself to read one article from the Plants and Pillars website every day? Or potentially attempting to spend five minutes in prayer at the beginning of each day? I ask you again: Will you challenge yourself to place God on the front-burner of your life?
Hebrews 12:1-2: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jeus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”