By BEN Larson

we too busy for God?

A question that can be read in a couple of different ways: how does that question sit with you? As I write this, I am in an airport waiting for my flight home. A place where thousands of people go to and from every day, hurrying off to the next thing. Are we too busy for God...? When I see this, I see two questions: are we too busy to give time to God, and are we too busy for God to use us?

I pray that we aren’ t either. We live in an extremely fast-paced society, jam-packed from morning to evening with everyone and everything fighting for our time. We live in a society that is built around making things faster. We get impatient when the drivethrough takes too long, and frustrated when we get stuck at a stoplight and it takes too long to turn green again. It can be very difficult to slow down just to give God even 10 minutes of our day. We wake up with a deadline to meet, and one thing turns into another, and now it’ s so late that all you want to do is close your eyes and go to bed, ready for the next day.

I believe that it brings satan joy when we have our jam-packed days, too busy to slow down and spend time in God’ s Word, and in

relation to Him.

What steps can you take to slow down this week to spend time with God every day? As I write this, I am returning from helping my brother with some things. I was with him for one week and could only see him every 2-3 days, but even in that not very busy schedule, I found it hard to take the time to slow down, be still, and study God’ s Word.

It can be very hard in our lives, but I want to encourage you, don’ t be defeated, don’ t be upset at yourself. God is waiting for you to pick that relationship back up; it doesn’ t matter whether it ' s been one day or ten years. God does and will speak to you if you take the time to ask Him and to study His Word.

Rachel and I have used a Bible study called“ The Bible Recap” by Tara-Lee Coble for the last couple of years. We have really enjoyed this, as it goes through the Bible in chronological order. She ends each day with a recap video, in which she breaks each reading passage down from her best-studied perspective to help you understand it. She often brings very interesting views and thoughts to the passage, but more importantly, she trains your eyes to watch for God and His character.

Recently, I have started listening

to the Bible on my phone while I read it in my physical Bible. When I do this, I use four highlighters to mark passages that stand out to me in whatever color I choose for that portion. Doing this has helped me focus on His Word and slow my brain down, so it is not thinking about other things. I encourage you to try this too. You can come up with certain themes for different colors – anything that will help you stay engaged while you read. I often found myself thinking about other things. Engaging more of your senses helps you remember and absorb more.

I hope this helps you in your study of God’ s Word as it has for me! Check out next month’ s article, where I will share another great way to break down the Bible and understand it. CMA

Ben and Rachel Larson serve CMA as National Evangelist Youth Movement.

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