Not long ago, I forgot the birthday of a good friend. After I looked back at my calendar, I saw the problem. I neglected to set up a reminder for the important day. We overlook significant things in our lives often because of our busyness—not because of our apathy. It’s no different in our relationship with God.
(Photo by Photodune)
Whether we use string on a finger, a Post-it Note on the mirror, or an auto-reminder on our smartphones, we all need prompts for what we’d otherwise forget.
Unaware as it happens, we can allow our busy lives to crowd out our devotion to God. We enjoy our families, our homes, our food, our salvation—all of God’s blessings to us. But before we know it, we replace a devotion to the Lord with a devotion to His blessings. And in a sad, twisted irony, those blessings become our focus instead of the God who gave them.
You’re going to stay busy. I get it.
In this post, I’ll give you 5 ways you can remember God in your busy life.
Remembering Not to Forget God
Ironically, we tend to overlook God’s gracious blessings because we stay so busy enjoying them. God told the young generation of Israel:
When the Lord your God brings you into . . . great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied. —Deuteronomy 6:10-11
Notice God’s emphasis through the repeated phrase: “which you did not.” The blessings His people would receive would come from God’s hand—not from themselves.
When we think about it, it’s the same with us. We have:
- “great and splendid cities” (insert your city here)
- “houses full of all good things” (just look around your home)
- “hewn cisterns” (your clean drinking water)
- “vineyards and olive trees” (your grocery store)
None of these things we obtained alone; they are God’s gifts and blessings. But we forget that. So did the Hebrews.
So Moses warned his nation of prosperity’s greatest temptation:
Then watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. —Deuteronomy 6:12
(Photo: My daughter’s dash)
Why We Forget God
God’s Word clearly reminds us that our tendency to forget God increases as we prosper. Both of Israel’s most glorious kings—David and Solomon—committed their greatest acts of unfaithfulness at the height of their prosperity.
The warning remains a fitting reminder to us whose garbage disposals eat better than 30 percent of the world’s population.
Watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord. —Deuteronomy 6:12
Our busy and blessed lives are not the only reasons we fail to remember God. Moses told God’s people that the culture around them also served as a serious distraction from their devotion (Deuteronomy 6:13-14). Is it any different for us today?
5 Ways to Remember God in Your Busy Life
We need to do whatever it takes to remember God. Here are 5 ideas:
- Set a recurring calendar notification on your smartphone to remind you of a verse (like Deut. 6:12). Or you can ask yourself questions throughout the day, like: “Remember God today?”
- Use your wristwatch’s hourly beep as a prompt to give God thanks for your blessings.
- Got a wall plaque with your favorite verse? Hang it upside-down for a week as a visual reminder.
- Use your smartphone’s home screen for Scripture instead of what you’re using now. Here are some clever examples you can download for free.
- Put a 3×5 card in your car and read the reminder at stoplights. (My daughter does this. See her picture above.)
There’s no reason in our busy lives we can’t remember God.
Let’s watch ourselves.
Discover What The Bible Lands Have to Teach Us
Learn the top 6 Lessons from Visiting the Holy Land more than 20 times in 21 years with Dr. Wayne Stiles, a longtime devotional scholar who is passionate about sharing the practical application of bringing God’s Word to life.
Tell me what you think: What do you do to remember God in your busy life? To leave a comment, just click here.