God TOTALLY Cares That You Had Your Quiet Time This Morning

In John chapter four Jesus tells a Samaritan woman, “the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (21, 23).” In the overall context of this interaction Jesus had a very specific lesson that he was teaching this woman. For our discussion, however, our Lord’s use of some specific terms made me think a little about the logistics of my spiritual disciplines (Bible reading, prayer, fasting, gathering for worship, etc.).

I wouldn't mind having my quiet time here...

Jesus used the Samaritan woman’s evasive religious statement (“Our fathers worshiped [a time in the past] on this mountain [place]”) to show her the type of worshipers God desires. He was telling her that the time was at hand for something new. It was time for this woman to consider what true worship was to look like in her own life. The time was coming when the externals of religion would be of little consequence without the inward transformation of the worshiper's heart in spirit and in truth. Jesus also brought her attention to location. When this time came, which in fact was being ushered in by Jesus’ very words, the physical location of worship would no longer be important. For the Jew and the Samaritan, location was everything. The Jews had the temple in Jerusalem while the Samaritans had their own. Which was better? Which was more effective? Which was right? Jesus answers all of these questions with, “neither.” In Christ we are the temple (both individually and collectively) of the Holy Spirit being built together “into a dwelling place for God (Ephesians 2:22).”

We learn from the words of Christ that true worship is not about the externals. True worship occurs when an individual is transformed by the Holy Spirit and has his affections turned upward toward God and has his mind engaged by the truth of God’s word. So we can worship wherever we are and whenever we are there. We can walk through this life as living sacrifices (Romans 12) always being to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing (to borrow Paul’s deeply liturgical language of 2 Corinthians 2). The woman was concerned about what worship looked like, but Jesus taught her what worship really was to be about.

...or here.

Just for the sake of stirring things up, let me say that I think we need to have a little more of a “woman at the well” perspective in our spiritual practices. What I mean by this is that we need to bring time and place more to the forefront of our minds. 

Think with me about this example. I recently spoke to a friend of mine who has his finger on the pulse of a variety of prayer movements taking place around the world. He was telling me that a gentleman involved in one of the larger movements made a great point about the importance of time and place. He said that you can take a person who is highly passionate about prayer, has a deep faith in the power of prayer, and really takes hold of the throne of God when he enters into a time of prayer and put him alongside someone who has a set time when he prays and a particular location where he prays. He said that the latter will always pray more than the former. He said that one of the greatest factors, if not the greatest, involved in the growth of the particular prayer movement with which he was involved was a scheduled time and place of prayer among the participants.

This is a lesson that we can apply to our spiritual disciplines. I love Jesus. I know the value of His word. I sense the rest that is mine in the gospel. I never have to perform in order for God to accept me. I could pray every so often, read my Bible occasionally, and never tell people about Jesus and God would love me no more than he would if I spent every day fasting, praying, and speaking of Him. 

With that understanding, though, the more I can set aside a particular time each day to meet with God, and have that become the normal expectation and experience, the deeper my walk with Him will be. I can just about guarantee it.  And I find that in the midst of this consistency, I can be flexible when needed.

So the woman at the well had some serious heart issues that Jesus stepped into and transformed. But she might have been on to something when she gravitated toward time and place. Who knows, maybe she was just a highly organized planner. Probably not, but who knows?