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Putting Our Faith First

Putting Our Faith First

There’s something about a new year that invites us into reflection. We look back to see where we’ve come from and ahead to where we’re going. It’s often a time when we set goals to make changes in our lives. We look to things like eating healthier, saving more, organizing our homes, and making more time for family and friends. These are all good things, but none of them addresses the question our souls need us to answer: Am I making my faith the most important priority in my life?

I want my answer to always be “Yes!” and I know you do, too. Our hearts yearn for what can only be filled by our Creator, and whether we’re able to put a name to it or not, we deeply feel that longing. As parents, we can easily put our children first in everything while sacrificing what is vital to us personally. Our kids are important, and the Lord chose us to raise them, but if we put them at the center of every part of our lives, we’ll fail to strengthen and deepen our connection with the Lord as His beloved child.

There are many obstacles that we could name that have the potential to get in the way of us prioritizing our personal connection with the Lord, but these two probably affect us the most: time and unrealistic expectations.

The Challenge of Time

Families are extremely busy with work, school, and maintaining a home, and there are myriad activities children can be involved in, such as dance, karate, music lessons, baseball, etc. Our calendars overflow to the point that seeing a day with nothing on the schedule makes us worry that we’ve forgotten something. We often make our busyness a focal point of conversation with other parents and offer the hopeful word that “one day,” things will slow down. Chronic overscheduling can lead to important things falling through the cracks, including time with God.

If we are too busy to connect with the Lord throughout the week and too busy to take time to talk and learn about God as a family, we are simply too busy. This means we have to ask ourselves some hard questions and answer them honestly. Outside of work and school responsibilities, where am I investing my time? What am I sacrificing by saying yes more than I say no? What has to be taken off the calendar in order for me (and, in turn, my family) to have meaningful time to put my faith first? Sometimes, we have to say no to good things in order to make room for what’s best.   

Unrealistic Expectations

Whether you are new to the faith or have been following the Lord for years, we all make assumptions about the way we have to structure growing in our faith outside of the church. We worry that it requires us to get up in the wee hours of the morning in order to read the Bible and pray for a couple of hours before the kids get up. Don’t forget about including Scripture commentaries, study guides, and books written about spiritual things. And journaling, too! Believing this is the only way is overwhelming and unrealistic. We either give up before we begin because we know we’re going to fall short, or we do what we can but feel guilty that we’re not giving God our all.

The two foundational pieces of growing in our relationship with the Lord at home are Bible reading and prayer. However, the way we incorporate them into our lives will look different from person to person. Praying while you’re driving to work is just as easy as it is during your morning shower, rocking a sleepy baby, or on a hike. Reading the Bible might be one verse, a few verses, or multiple chapters at a time. For those who have a hard time reading or learning better audibly, there are websites and apps you can use. If you don’t know what to read, find a reading plan to guide you. For every obstacle that pops up trying to prevent us from prioritizing our individual faith, there is always a way around it.

The Lord doesn’t deem us worthy to be in His presence because of the length or formality of our prayers, because of the amount of Bible reading we do, or the amount of good works we perform. We are worthy because of Jesus and what He has done for us on the cross. Romans 8:1 tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We have to remember that God is more interested in our relationship with Him than He is in what we do. We can’t allow shame to creep in and cause us to think that the Lord is more focused on the time we haven’t spent with Him than welcoming us back into His presence with open arms when we take the first step back to making Him a priority.

So, as you seek to make your faith the most important priority in your life, pay attention to how you are spending your time and the expectations you have. When we allow God to fill us up first with what we can only receive from Him, we can be in a better place to teach our children by example what it means to love and follow God.

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