We are looking at Not Consumed Developing a Quiet Time. This devotional shared a very simple and helpful outline (the G-R-O-W-S method) of what your time with God could look like. It is a starting place to assist us in getting started. As we grow in our relationship with God, our time with God may look a bit different.
The last couple weeks we have been talking about the purposes of our spending time with God in a quiet time. We have learned that it is for fellowship, righteousness, direction, and worship. These are all so important in our lives to spend time with our God.
As we do spend more time with Him, we see another reason emerge that make our time with God important. To see what happens when we spend time in quiet time with our Savior, we will look at the Apostle Paul. If you know his story, you know that he wrote more books in the Bible than anyone else. Given that he was a persecutor of Christians before he came to know Christ, does that surprise you?
Paul is an example to us. Sometimes we are tempted to think that God cannot use us because of what we have done, where we come from, or our weakness (given our circumstances, especially our weakness). Yet, Paul is an example to us of what God can do with someone who follows Him. Paul follows Jesus and then encourages Timothy, his young mentee, to be an example to others despite his youth.
Each of us is an example to others – whether good or bad. Spending time with God will change us from the inside out and allow us to be an example to others of how to follow Jesus even through hard times. Often, this happens without our knowing as we are shining for Him in our reactions to what is happening. Notice the ways that Paul says Timothy can be an example to others (verse 12). These are ways that we can also be an example for Jesus in our daily life even in our weakness and trials.
We have an amazing God who will transform us and make us a shining light for Him, an example for Him even when the world may have passed us over. I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to spend time with Him more. What a God we have!
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